Netflix Unsubscriptions Skyrocket Amid Outrage About Film ‘Sexualizing’ Minors
Image via IMDb
Netflix might have lost a significant slice of its fanbase following the promotion and release of a French film criticized for sexualizing young girls. Recent statistics indicate a spike in cancellations of Netflix accounts amid the backlash.
While a fraction of the dropouts can be attributed to the coronavirus crisis—during which people have been cutting back on expenses—observations from subscription analytics Antenna, via Forbes, indicate that there were five times as many cancellations in the past five days as there had been in the previous 30 days.
During this period, viewers decried Netflix’s release of Cuties, a Sundance award-winning movie about tweens vying to triumph at a “twerking competition.”
In one scene, the lead character takes a photo of her crotch and uploads it online. Netflix’s own poster, which it later removed, featured young girls twerking in micro tops and shorts.
Even though the supposed intention of the film was to spark a debate “against the sexualization of young children,” subscribers argued that the movie was promoting “child porn” and “pedophilia.”
“#CancelNetflix” became a trending topic on social media, and according to Forbes, a Change.org petition threatening to boycott the platform had amassed over 650,000 signatures.
However, the analytics firm did not provide actual numbers for the unsubscriptions, so how much its membership base has been affected remains unclear.
Netflix has yet to comment on the purported loss.
The streaming service has previously apologized for publishing “inappropriate artwork” from the film.
@AntennaData can confirm that Netflix experienced a meaningful Spike in Churn Rate due to the 'Cuties' Backlash https://t.co/mW8hb8AhLY pic.twitter.com/8DNT01KJXZ
— ANTENNA (@AntennaData) September 17, 2020
By the numbers: Subscription analytics company @AntennaData says it saw 5x the number of cancellations of Netflix in the past five days compared to the previous 30 days. https://t.co/lcaPnXwSNP
— ANTENNA (@AntennaData) September 17, 2020
Additional data compiled by @AntennaData also suggests that #CancelNetflix had a bigger impact on Netflix US cancellations in the days after “Cuties” was released, than Disney Plus did during the days after its 2019 debuthttps://t.co/lv5Sjva2kG https://t.co/IpmAqXR0uB pic.twitter.com/qmlezWckyJ
— Ashley Rodriguez 📺 (@AshleyRReports) September 17, 2020
[via Forbes, cover image via IMDb]
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