Dubai mall displays female model as mannequin; Internet calls it 'slavery'

In a storefront window at a store of apparel brand Manto Bride at Dubai Festival City Mall stood what at first glance appeared to be a mannequin in a brown-golden coloured dress and stiletto heels.

Only it was not a mannequin, but a model, who was identified as Angelina. She stood there switching poses – beside two real mannequins in blue dress – in a hope to capture the attention of the shoppers passing by the store. 

The model herself shared this video on her Instagram handle. She captioned the video, "POV: Marketing in Dubai". The video has over 32.2k views and over 290 likes views and 37 comments so far.

Take a look at the video here: 

This saga of the women posing as a mannequin at a shopping centre in Dubai adds to the list of bizarre marketing strategies used to attract customers to the store. 

A well-known Dubai-based account "@lovindubai" also shared the video with the caption, "Legends say she's still striking poses to this day."

However, not many people found this marketing strategy to be appealing, with some calling it "inhuman and slavery" while others called it "very downgrading and tasteless".

“This is slavery so inhuman she has to stand the whole day in the small area with different pose. So sad,” one Instagram user commented.

This sentiment was echoed by another user who said, “Inhuman behaviour and money power,” 

“Someone has a lot of money for marketing,” another user said. 

Another user shared a more nuanced perspective, “Everyone saying this is slavery, inhuman, uncomfortable. Just like everyone else, we all have our own discomfort at work, we all get some pain whether it’s on foot, back, hands whatever. She’s getting paid just like we get, plus think about the security guards in the malls, they stand all the time too. We all are struggling and that's what makes us strong."