This image has caused outrage in France. Created for a government advertising campaign, it's being seen as a demeaning depiction of Marianne, the icon of the French republic (as portrayed by Delacroix in 1830). The aim is to promote a £31bn debt-financed spending plan – to help stimulate economic growth – and some critics say the ad implies a woman's role is to make babies, while men deal with the economy. Here's that controversy in full:
The hat
Marianne's Phrygian cap – as her traditional conical headwear is known – tends to be revolutionary red. In white it looks "as though she's wearing a shower cap", says one critic. Or like she's just mugged Papa Smurf. Neither is a good look.
The dress
Some people have balked at the use of white to represent French womanhood, a colour associated with virginity, monoculturalism and the aristocratic Ancien Régime. There are also science-fiction connotations. Is this woman about to produce a bouncing French child or a being from another dimension?
The pregnancy
The advertising firm behind this image has explained, perplexingly, that "the crystal pureness represents this beautiful moment of motherhood that enshrines the full potential of the big loans". Feminist bloggers are having none of it. "The hand of the state should not be in my uterus," goes one typically strident comment. Vive la France!
