The H&M fashion chain are running a 10 minute advert - yes, a whole 10 minutes!!! - which is based on the story Romeo and Juliet. Has anyone else had the misfortune to be assaulted by this yet? Did you also hate it as passionately as I did?

Not only does it make you cringe from start to finish - the story is also just plain wrong. Romeo committed suicide in the original play by Willy Shakes. In this interpretation he is killed. There have also been complaints that it glamorises gun culture.
Having to endure 25 minutes of pre-movie diversions, always ending with Shaggy singing "Like ice in the sunshine", is bad enough. But this really takes the biscuit. I did wonder whether H&M deliberately made this so painful for the precise reason of getting people to talk about it - just like I'm doing now. But Iceberg Slim assures me that advertisers don't work like this.
Anyway, if you really must see what I'm talking about, the movie short is available online: (turn on your sound)You can also view movie extras and background info by going to www.hm.com and navigating to "Inspiration / H&M Denim".



