A campaign waged against Netflix over “Cuties” and the film’s sexualized portrayal of children produced a surge in U.S. subscription cancellations over the weekend.
On September 10, the day after Cuties’ release, Netflix’s subscriber rate rose, but then on September 12, the service saw a cancellation rate eight times higher than average, according to Variety. It’s unknown at this point if the social media campaign to cancel Netflix will continue to increase these numbers.
Of course, people cancel their Netflix subscriptions all the time and Netflix has not provided the number of subscribers that have canceled. That said, we do know that Netflix garnered 193 million paid subscribers at the end of June. Reportedly, the pandemic has caused record sign-ups to the service.
Though Netflix agreed that its poster for the film was inappropriate and quickly removed it, the company defended Cuties as a Sundance Film Festival award-winning movie that is against the sexualization of children. As of now, Cuties is still available on Netflix.
Cuties was directed and written by Maïmouna Doucouré, and is about an 11-year-old girl named Amy who joins the aforementioned eponymous group of dancers in an attempt to rebel against what she believes is her Muslim family’s oppressive traditions. In the movie, Amy and the other dancers perform provocative dance moves and the young characters are often put into sexual situations.
