• The “Tourism of the future” conference was held in Nantes on September 6 and 7.

  • The poster campaign promoting the event has been canceled.

  • It was to be illustrated by a caricature by the designer Frap.

Was a poster promoting the "Tourism of the future" conference, which took place Monday and Tuesday, censored by the services of Nantes Métropole? This is what the Nantais Frap, renowned caricaturist and author of the drawing illustrating the support affirms. It must be said that the event, organized by the Voyage à Nantes, was indeed to be announced in a visible poster campaign, in particular, at Nantes station. But the poster in question was never printed, revealed the daily Presse Océan. A campaign for another event of the Voyage à Nantes, the Expression (s) décoloniale (s) exhibition held at the castle of the Dukes of Brittany was preferred.

▶ CONCLUSIONS OF THE CONFERENCE LE TOURISME DU FUTUR @RousselFabrice thanks @LaCiteCongres, the actors, speakers, the public and Le Voyage à Nantes for this conference on #Tourismedufutur pic.twitter.com/oLEZkuwFZN

- levoyageanantes (@levoyageanantes) September 7, 2021

Why this turnaround?

According to the author of the drawing, who expressed his anger and his "concern" on social networks, it is indeed the choice of the caricature, representing a woman of the colonial era assisted by a luggage porter, who would have posed a problem for the “technocrats” of Nantes Métropole and of the company managing the advertising spaces of the SNCF.

"The character in the background, a black man carrying the lady's Vuitton luggage, does not pass, even though the drawing is obviously a satire of a colonialist and racist era", laments Frap.

“This act of censorship is first and foremost an act contemptuous of the public, considered impervious to satire,” continues the author.

It is even more so with regard to our black fellow citizens, of whom it must be believed that the censors of Nantes metropolis deem them incapable of perceiving the second degree of a drawing.

"

"There is no censorship, no poster withdrawn"

Solicited by

20 Minutes

, Nantes Métropole brings another version. “Taking into account the evolution of the news related to the health crisis, the fact that the event calendar has been modified (Night of the Van, Tables de Nantes…), the posting calendar has changed. By mutual agreement, the services of Nantes Métropole and the VAN wished to prioritize communication around a general public event. And in the end, it was a poster of the exhibition of the castle of the dukes that was selected. But there is no censorship, no poster withdrawn. The best proof is that the commissioned cartoon is visible in the press kit, on the conference documents, on the conference website. It circulates freely. "

Asked by

Presse Océan

, Jean Blaise, boss of Voyage à Nantes, downplayed, considering that this story "is not a matter of state".

Nevertheless, it seems to validate the thesis of a deliberate choice which is not linked to the calendar.

“It's indicative of an evolution in our society,” he says.

It's the "woke", the "cancel culture" ... The ambient well-thought, at all levels, worries me.

In a society that censors itself, we tolerate the worst in the name of everyone's freedom and identity.

"

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  • Travel to Nantes

  • Design

  • Caricature

  • Nantes

  • Racism