Amazon has withdrawn a set of James Bond posters from its Prime Video platform after fans and media outlets criticised the removal of guns from the images. The digital artwork, released to coincide with James Bond Day on Sunday, was intended for use as thumbnail imagery but sparked immediate backlash on social media.
The posters included edited versions of iconic publicity shots. A portrait of Sean Connery from Dr No, which originally showed him cradling a Walther PPK pistol, had the gun removed. Similarly, a teaser poster for Daniel Craig's Spectre was cropped to cut out the gun at his side, though his shoulder holster remained visible. A publicity image of Roger Moore from Live and Let Die was also altered to remove his .44 Magnum.
Critics, including the Sun and the Daily Mail, branded the move 'woke'. Amazon MGM Studios, which acquired the Bond franchise for more than $1bn in February, has since replaced the posters with more traditional stills from the films, though these also feature no guns.
