Is this Cosmopolitan’s most controversial cover yet? Magazine shows photo of girl suffocating in hard-hitting campaign against honour killings
- The Cosmopolitan magazine image shows a woman suffocating
- Film-wrapped issue encourages readers to rip it open to 'free' girl
- The mocked up cover represents the story of teenager Shafilea Ahmed
- Her parents suffocated her in 2003 for refusing an arranged marriage
Cosmopolitan's front cover usually features the personality quizzes, sex tips and the latest Hollywood starlet, but the magazine has now gone for a completely different tactic.
The publication have released a picture of a young girl suffocating as part of their long-running protest against honour killings, mocked up as if it is the magazine's February cover.
The plastic-wrapped issue features a blurry black and white picture of a girl with dark hair, with her hands raised as though she is trying to break the wrapping and the magazine encourages readers to rip open the plastic and free her.
The picture represents the story of Shafilea Ahmed, whose parents suffocated her with a plastic bag in front of her siblings in September 2003, for supposedly bringing shame on her family after she refused to agree to an arranged marriage.
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A young girl is pictured suffocating on the cover of a plastic-wrapped issue of Cosmopolitan, created specifically for an event at the House of Lords. The image represents the story of Shafilea Ahmed, whose parents suffocated her with a plastic bag in front of her siblings in September 2003, for supposedly bringing shame on her family after she refused to agree to an arranged marriage
The mocked up cover, which was created by advertising company Leo Burnett Change, is part of the publication's campaign, alongside women's charity Karma Nirvana, to raise awareness of honour-based violence.
Readers can not buy it, as it was created specifically for an event at the House of Lords.
They magazine is lobbying the government to get a UK law implemented that will help to prevent future deaths of this nature.
A seven-second film has also been made to accompany the issue.
In the clip, the plastic cover is ripped off the magazine, signifying the release of women from violence.
Cosmopolitan posted a Vine of the video with the words: 'Shafilea Ahmed was suffocated by her parents in front of her siblings.
'Share to end the suffering of #honourkillings Karmanirvana.org.uk'
The magazine's mocked up cover image was presented to UK parliament on Wednesday during a lobbying event hosted by Cosmpolitan and Karma Nirvana.
The event was planned to launch a new report called Honour Killings In The UK, which uncovered severe failings by the British government, police forces and schools to recognise, report and prevent honour-based violence.
The Day of Memory for Britain's Lost Women is July 14, the date of the birthday of Shafilea Ahmed.
It also announced a new memorial day, called The Day of Memory for Britain's Lost Women, to comemorate all victims of honour killings, which has long been campaigned for both by Cosmopolitan and the Henry Jackson Society.
It will take place annually on July 14, which was the date of Shafilea’s birthday, who was 17 when she was killed in 2003.
It took nine years for Shafilea's parents to be brought to justice, but they were finally both sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2012 for the murder.
This summer, forced marriage will become illegal in England and Wales and punishable by up to seven years in prison.
But thousands of women are still being beaten, abused and raped in the name of honour across the UK.
The government's own Forced Marriage Unit dealt with 1,302 possible cases of forced marriage last year - more than 80 per cent of them involving female victims.
The Karma Nirvana helpline alone is currently getting an average of 700 calls a month, a 21 per cent increase from last year when the average was 550.
But the secret nature of forced marriage means these figures are merely the tip of the iceberg.
A Cosmopolitan spokesperson said: 'We are incredibly proud of our campaign to call for a day of remembrance for the victims of honour killings. More than 100,000 people have supported the campaign, run in partnership with the charity Karma Nirvana. It has also resulted in the 14th July being declared as a Day of Memory to honour British victims of this horrific crime.
'As part of that campaign, Cosmo ran a competition with three advertising agencies to create an image that could be used to raise awareness of the issue of honour based abuse and killings.
'The Leo Burnett image was one of the entries, and the image has been used for promotional use in a mocked up cover wrapped around the magazine and an independent think tank’s report on honour based violence for a specific House of Lords event. It is not a cover. Our February issue has been on sale for nearly two weeks, and does not feature the image that Leo Burnett created.'
You can pledge your support to beat honour killings at change.org/dishonourthecrime
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