An American advert showing a Muslim girl wearing a headscarf has prompted an outcry in France and been deemed an affront to the nation’s secularist principles.
The back-to-school campaign by Gap Kids was shot in a New York primary school but published by Gap in French on social media. The girl is dressed in denim and a headscarf as she plays with classmates of various ethnicities.
The image has prompted criticism because of France’s attachment to la laïcité, the 113-year-old reform that separates religion from public life. Hijab-style headcoverings have been banned from state schools, along with other “ostentatious” religious insignia, since 2004. [The Times (£)] Read more
