As shopping retailer H&M continues to battle the fallout over an advertisement which has been called 'racist', a new image has surfaced on Twitter which has caused yet more controversy.
Kieron Marsh shared an image of a photoshopped picture of Madeleine McCann's head onto an ad for a blue jumper, which had the phrase 'Hide and Seek Champion' added onto the original image. Marsh, from Ipswich, captioned the image: "Absolutely disgusting from H&M I'm ashamed!!"
The tweet has been liked, retweeted and commented on by tens of thousands of people.
Kieron told LADbible: "I just thought there had been a few that had gone up and I just thought I'd join the bandwagon to have a bit of a laugh and I didn't expect it to take off as much as it did.
"To be fair, in my mind it's just a bit of banter and if people can't handle it then sod 'em."
The image left Twitter users unimpressed:
Kieron says he was just emulating what he was seeing online, with other Twitter users photoshopping well-known figures onto mocked-up H&M clothing ads with offensive or inappropriate titles.
The brand has been facing a huge backlash after an ad went online, showing a black boy dressed in a green jumper that said, 'Coolest Monkey In The Jungle'.
It's not the first time Madeleine McCann's likeness has been used as a meme that has caused offence. Daniel Gearie, then 25, copped a fair amount of abuse last year after going to a Halloween party dressed like Maddie when she went missing in Portugal in 2007. He said that he 'deserved the shit' he subsequently received and that it was 'in poor taste to even think of the idea, let alone follow through with it'.
In a public social media apology, he said: "At the weekend I made the most incredibly stupid, vile and disgusting decision of my life. I can honestly say that I am embarrassed and disgusted by my own behaviour and can only apologise for any offence that I caused anyone."
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: UK News, News, UK, Madeleine McCann
