A viral marketing campaign launched to promote Ghost in the Shell has backfired as fans hijacked it to complain about whitewashing.
A teaser for the movie - which spent several months filming in New Zealand - features Scarlett Johansson in character as The Major saying "I am hunted. I amthe hunter. I am coming for them. I am Major".
Fans were then directed to a website that asked them to add a photo of themselves and finish the sentence, "I am ..."
Internet users rapidly took the campaign in a different direction, using the website to criticise the film's whitewashed casting of Johansson as a character who is originally Japanese.
— Valerie Complex♓️♎️♋️ (@ValerieComplex) March 12, 2017
У «Призрака в броне» появился сайт IAmMajor.me. Здесь можно создать собственный постер с крутым слоганом. И теперь нас не остановить: pic.twitter.com/fDfcEeT1IP
Johansson addressed the controversy recently, telling Marie Claire: "I certainly would never presume to play another race of a person. Diversity is important in Hollywood, and I would never want to feel like I was playing a character that was offensive.
"Also, having a franchise with a female protagonist driving it is such a rare opportunity. Certainly, I feel the enormous pressure of that-the weight of such a big property on my shoulders," she said.
