By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-03-25 12:46:42 | Updated at 2025-03-25 22:48:24
10 hours ago
A fashion brand is facing controversy after it released an advert that showed the Eiffel Tower draped in a hijab.
In France, the hijab is banned in schools and public offices, while full face coverings, such as burqas and niqābs, are banned in public spaces.
The advert by Dutch fashion brand Merrachi - that specialises in Islamic clothing - has been slammed as “aggressive and pernicious”.
The Instagram advert comes with the caption: “The French government hates to see Merrachi coming.”
A fashion brand is facing controversy after it released an advert that showed the Eiffel Tower draped in a hijab
Merrachi - Instagram
Lisette Pollet, a Member of Parliament from the National Rally Party, said that the company has “insulted the Eiffel Tower”.
“By wrapping it in an Islamic hijab, Merrachi has deliberately tried to provoke us,” she added.
Her post on X was shared by Marine Le Pen, President of the National Rally.
Géraldine Woessner, the editor of Le Point magazine, said that the move would likely spark fury.
Her post on X was shared by Marine Le Pen, President of the National Rally
Getty
“The idea is that the hijab is modest and the rest of us are immodest. I think it’s really very aggressive and pernicious,” she said.
Commentators also took issue with another caption which read: “Remember when they banned the hijab?”
Laurent Neumann of the BFM television news channel said: “The hijab is banned only in schools, and the claim that they are selling ‘modest fashion’ with no religious connotation is also false.”
Some social media users praised the advert. One said it was “genius”, adding: “The Eiffel Tower has finally received the modesty it always needed.”
In France, the hijab is banned in schools and public offices
PA
In March 2004, following months of debate, the French parliament imposed a ban on headscarves in schools, outlawing “symbols or clothing that conspicuously demonstrate a pupil’s religious affiliation”.
Under France's brand of secularism - Laïcité - civil servants, teachers and pupils cannot wear any obvious religious symbols such as a Christian cross, Jewish kippa, Sikh turban or Muslim headscarf, also known as a hijab.
The government says that laïcité “imposes the equality of all before the law without distinction of religion or conviction”.
Opponents of the headscarf see it as a symbol of growing Islamisation following deadly jihadist attacks throughout the nation.
However, others believe that the women should be allowed to practice their religion and wear what they want.
