A chocolate company has caused outrage after revealing its not-so-sweet side with its ‘no ginger’ recruitment policy for its latest advert.
Milka advertised for girls aged between 8-11 to play Mia in an upcoming advert.
The Swiss company want Mia to be beautiful and angelic, have soft hair and be no more than 4ft 4in.
She must also under no circumstances have red hair – despite the advert beginning to say hair colour wasn’t important.
The ad stated: “She can be aged 9-12. If she is 12 she must be very small and still be childlike.”
“SHE MUST BE SWEET AND INNOCENT. STILL A LITTLE GIRL.
“Eye colour and hair colour are not important – but no red hair.”
It has caused outrage among parents and celebrities who feel the advert is discriminatory and could be harmful to young girl’s self-image.
Comedy legend Kathy Burke said: “Imagine being the kids that don’t get the job – you’re just not beautiful enough I’m afraid, my darling, now off you pop and be riddled with insecurities for the rest of your life.
“All this had to say is: We need a happy, smart, healthy little girl who loves the outdoor life and David Bowie. More than anything she’d love the world to be happy, smart and healthy too.”
Mondelez International are the company that make Milka chocolate. They have issued a statement apologising for the advert.
A statement from Mondelez International said: “We take our advertising responsibility very seriously and this is not representative of the brief we shared with the casting agency and does not meet our high standards.
“We would never approve the use of such a notice and are urgently reviewing the situation with Spotlight UK to understand how and why it has happened.”
Spotlight UK is the company that hosted the advert. It has also apologised for the content of the ad.
A statement from Spotlight UK said: “On Thursday one of the Casting Directors who use Spotlight’s platform published a casting call – or a ‘breakdown’ as they’re known in the trade – on our platform which absolutely did not meet our high standards but nevertheless slipped through the net.
“Breakdowns like this are, quite simply, totally unacceptable and we should never have allowed it to be published.
“We’re committed to giving all Spotlight members the very best service we can, and that includes making sure that every single Spotlight member and Casting Director can feel that they’re treated with respect and dignity.
“On this occasion we failed to meet our own standards and we’ll be conducting a full review to make sure we get it right in the future.
“We made a serious error and we should have done much, much better. We’re sorry.”
Just look at this casting wording for a 9-11 YEAR OLD!! pic.twitter.com/HcQeOhz0eZ
— Helen Raw (@helenraw) August 8, 2019
All this had to say is : We need a happy, smart, healthy little girl who loves the outdoor life and David Bowie. More than anything she'd love the world to be happy, smart and healthy too.
— kath ?❄️??? (@KathyBurke) August 9, 2019
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling