Movie poster of Deadpool holding durians accused of cultural appropriation, racism
A new Thai poster promoting the upcoming movie Deadpool & Wolverine featuring the character Deadpool holding two durians has been accused of cultural appropriation and racism.
The movie starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman reprising their role as the titular Marvel superheroes is set to open in Singapore on July 25.
Three official promotional posters created specifically for Thailand were released on July 5.
Drawn by Thai artist Maiimou, the posters were inspired by aspects of Thai culture such as muay thai and durian.
In the durian poster, Wolverine is rowing a boat filled with fruit in a floating market as Deadpool stood behind him wearing a traditional Thai ngob hat and holding up a durian in each gloved hand.
Netizens mostly praised the Thai posters.
One Redditor commented: "Get these posters up in American theatres. People will laugh and shake their heads about how silly it is, but it'll get their attention and it's just fun."
Another commenter joked that south-east Asians would be angry if there isn't a durian harvesting scene in the movie.
But someone also posted a screenshot of a social media post criticising the durian poster: "Excuse me, but WTF is this? I thought we already knew cultural appropriation and racism are bad. Serious let-down from a movie I was so excited about."
Others disagreed with the post.
"These people are insufferable. And how can this be even considered racist?" said a netizen.
Another pointed out: "Meanwhile Thai people are asking for more."
