The DVD release in the United States of the award
winning Australian comedy The Sapphires
has set tongues wagging and for all the wrong reasons. In a situation that shows just how important
DVD packaging really is, controversy has erupted over the fact that the US DVD
release features Irish actor Chris ODowd on the cover.
The problem is that ODowd plays the manager of the
musical foursome known as The Sapphires, on which the film centres, and yet the
Aboriginal women, who make up the quartet, are hardly to be seen on the front
cover. Accusations of racism and sexism have been made at the US DVD
distributors, which is something made all the more ironic given that those
themes are such important aspects of the actual film.
The new packaging has been described as misleading
and disrespectful in a letter to the NCAAP by the Aboriginal Medical Service
located in Sydney, Australia, describing the image of the white male fronting a
film about four coloured women as reinforcing precisely the sort of bigotry
that Naomi (Mayers), Beverly (Briggs), Lois (Peeler) and Laurel (Robinson)
fought so hard against.
A business does not want to receive this type of reaction
for its DVD packaging and it is why it is so important to use a service like Brandedmedia. This Basingstoke, Hampshire company
is dedicated to producing packaging that is appropriate for the contents of the
DVD and which would highlight and emphasize its appeal and avoid the kind of
controversies that no business wants to endure.
