Art

Read these hilarious online spoofs of the Government's 'Fatima' retraining ad

The Government's 'Fatima' ad suggesting artists and performers retrain ‘in cyber’ received widespread condemnation before they were pulled

Image credit: Maeve_ab9/Flickr

Government adverts encouraging artists and performers to retrain have backfired in spectacular fashion as social media users remake the “Fatima” ad to feature leading Downing Street figures.

The ads were widely criticised online for featuring a ballet dancer lacing her shoes with the caption “Fatima’s next job should be in cyber (she just doesn’t know it yet)” followed by “Rethink. Reskill. Reboot”.

The Fatima ad arrived days after Chancellor Rishi Sunak denied suggesting people in the arts should retrain and were attributed to “CyberFirst”, a programme from the National Cyber Security Centre aiming to encourage young people into tech jobs, and to “HM Government”.

Musician Goldie, writer Caitlin Moran and actor James McAvoy were among thousands who criticised the ads before they were scrapped by Number 10. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden described them as “crass” and a Downing Street spokesperson told the BBC they were “not appropriate”.

But that hasn’t stopped dozens of digital designers using their art skills to turn the posters back on the Government.

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