BigShinyThing

Jill Greenberg’s hyper-realised photos of kids crying caused a mini-storm a whle back in the States and the UK. Critics accused the artist — who confessed to tactics such as taking sweets off the children to make them cry — of child abuse. The Guardian reported at the time:

When photographer Jill Greenberg decided to take a lollipop away from a small child, she had a broader purpose in mind.

“The first little boy I shot, Liam, suddenly became hysterically upset,” the Los Angeles-based photographer said. “It reminded me of helplessness and anger I feel about our current political and social situation.”

As the 27 two- and three-year-olds featured in her exhibition, End Times, cried and screamed, demanding the return of the lollipop given to them just moments before, Greenberg snapped away.

The results have provoked a storm of criticism from bloggers. “Jill Greenberg is a sick woman who should be arrested and charged with child abuse,” wrote Andrew Peterson on the Thomas Hawk blog.”

Funny then that the same idea (and maybe the same artist — unattributed or not) should turn up in ads for an Italian restaurant in Shanghai.

Ogilvy & Mather Shanghai ad for Italian restaurant chain Gondola Veneziana:

Jill Greenberg’s End Times series:

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