Bryan Ferry, the voice of Roxy Music, has been dropped as the face of Marks & Spencer's menswear collection. The move follows criticism of the singer over remarks he made about Nazi Germany and his admiration for the work of Leni Riefenstahl, notorious for her Nazi propaganda films. His agent confirmed yesterday that he is no longer being used by the retailer and that negotiations were not taking place for a new contract.
Although officially M&S said it "hadn't decided what we're doing" regarding the next batch of Autograph adverts, in which Ferry posed in a suit, privately the company admitted that they would not feature Ferry.
The male style icon provoked outrage in the Jewish community after The Independent on Sunday revealed the contents of an interview he gave in Germany. In the piece, published in Welt am Sonntag, the 61-year-old acknowledged to calling his studio in west London his Führerbunker and revealed how he reveres the aesthetics of Nazi Germany.
"My God, the Nazis knew how to present themselves," he said. "Leni Riefenstahl's movies and Albert Speer's buildings and the mass parades and the flags - just amazing. Really beautiful."
This prompted MPs led by Andrew Dismore to table a Commons motion urging shoppers to snub M&S and refuse to buy Ferry albums. The singer then issued an apology in which he said his comments had been made from an art history perspective.
An M&S spokeswoman said none of its models are on an ongoing contract, and that it would be "really unusual" for any of them to work with them for more than two seasons. She added that "no further executions are planned" of the Ferry campaign.
Stephen Howard, his manager, denied that Ferry had been officially "dropped" and said that the original deal signed with the retailer had only been for two photo shoots for two campaigns.
"Technically he fulfilled the obligations of the contract when he did the last photoshoot," said Mr Howard. "It was a successful association for both parties."
Independent
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Go into any M&S store and you see that a majority of the staff have now been dressed in black militant outfits, almost like the SS and SA were back in Nazi Germany. Also the colour red that they use for the clothes baskets and managers shirts are the same colour red as the Nazi flag. Check it out!
It’s no Game!
XXX
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