Just days after Amazon was spotted having replaced the poster for 12 Angry Men with an AI-generated monstrosity, the company is facing another poster-related backlash. It seems Amazon took it upon itself to redesign the classic poster for Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket – drawing the ire of the one of the film’s stars.
The phrase ‘Born to Kill’ was unceremoniously wiped from the helmet depicted in Philip Castle’s iconic poster design (arguably one of the best movie posters of all time). The slogan, emblazoned on the helmet worn by the film’s Pvt. Joker, appears next to a ‘peace sign’ badge – with the juxtaposition designed to represent “the duality of man”.
The original artwork (right) vs the edited version (left) (Image credit: Amazon/Philip Castle/Matthew Modine)
Who decided to remove “BORN TO KILL?” Not only did they alter a piece of iconic art by Philip Castle, but they completely misunderstood the point of it being there. Pvt. Joker wears the helmet with “BORN TO KILL” and the peace ☮️ button as a statement about “the duality of man.” pic.twitter.com/9XQwINJj4lJune 18, 2024
Actor Matthew Modine, who played Joker, declared on X (above) that whoever took the decision to remove the text from the poster “completely misunderstood the point of it being there” (it can be inferred from Modine’s post that he assumes the slogan was deemed offensive). “The duality of man” is a concept referred to by Joker himself in the film. According to Deadline, Warner Bros has “asked that the “detail page” for Full Metal Jacket be updated to reflect the original art”. At present, the page shows a still from the film instead of either version of the poster.
This isn’t the first time that Amazon has faced pressure to reverse course when it comes to design. Who can forget the time it was forced to hastily edit its brand new app icon, which turned out to feature an unfortunate resemblance to a certain historical figure?
