Was it just a PR stunt?
Days after the media went berserk as it reported the demise, after 44 years, of the Sun’s infamous page three feature, the red top has today published a picture of a topless model – complete with a cheeky wink at the camera.
Under the headline “Clarifications and Corrections”, the feature, which campaigners argue is sexist and outdated, appears to be a PR stunt to prove the Sun can’t be tamed.
The front page of title – Britain’s best selling daily newspaper – included a headline saying the paper had had a “mammary lapse”.
Earlier this week, sparked by a report in the Times that the Sun wanted to quietly kill the feature, the press dedicated vast amounts of column inches reporting and debating the move.
However, Dylan Sharpe, the Sun’s head of PR, said that all reports that the tabloid had dropped Page 3 should be treated as “speculation” until confirmed.
On Wednesday evening he tweeted: “I said that it was speculation and not to trust reports by people unconnected to The Sun. A lot of people are about to look very silly…”
No More Page 3, the campaign group which has been lobbying for the removal of topless glamour models from Page 3 since 2012, has since said that “the fight might be back on. Thanks to @TheSunNewspaper for all the publicity they’ve given the campaign.”
The Sun first began publishing topless women on its third page in November 1970 – and on its official Page 3 website in 1999.
In August 2013, the Republic of Ireland’s edition of The Sun replaced topless Page 3 women with clothed glamour models, and Monday’s UK edition featured a partially-clad Rosie Huntingdon Whitely, posing in lingerie.
On Thursday, the Labour MP Stella Creasy said on Twitter: “So Sun going back to doing #page3? bit like drunken letchy uncle at a wedding who doesn’t get the message. Makes everyone uncomfortable.”
The Sun currently has a circulation of almost 2 million, after seeing a 13.4% year on year increase in the latest ABCs.
