Vogue Portugal has pulled one of the four covers for their upcoming July/August 2020 issue following criticism for how it depicts mental illness and pyschiatric hospitals.

The magazine was accused of stereotyping when the image of a woman naked in a bathtub, having water poured over her by two women in old-fashioned nurse uniforms was released last week.

On an Instagram post, the magazine revealed the image would be one of four for what they called ‘The Madness Issue’.

Many commented on the post saying the image was ‘bad taste’ and adding that they found it offensive.

Others flagged that it was focusing on outdated troupes of psychiatric hospitals with the sterile environment and nurses costumes when modern mental health units can be very different,

Initially, Vogue Portugal posted a statement explaining that the cover portrays a hospital scene where the model is by her real life mother and grandmother, shot by photographer Branislav Simoncik.

The statement added: ‘Our intention is to open up the topic of mental health, and bring to the discussion the institutions, the science and the people that are involved with mental health today.

‘The cover story explores the historical context of mental health and is designed to reflect real-life and authentic stories, inspired by deep research of hundreds of reportage photographs from some of the most relevant and famous documentarists who have captured mental health hospitals. Inside the issue, features interviews and contributions from psychiatrists, sociologists, psychologists and other experts in the field.’

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On such an important issue such as mental health we cannot be divided. Vogue Portugal has taken the decision to pull one of the four covers of our July/August issue, which depicts a scene of a psychiatric hospital as well as the inside cover story based around the topic of mental health. Vogue Portugal deeply apologises for any offence or upset caused by this photo shoot. On reflection, we realise that the subject of mental health needs a more thoughtful approach. We sincerely apologise for this. Num assunto tão importante como a saúde mental, não podemos estar divididos. A Vogue Portugal tomou a decisão de retirar da próxima edição uma das quatro capas do número de julho/agosto, cuja imagem retrata uma cena num hospital psiquiátrico, bem como o restante editorial que estaria dentro da revista sobre o tópico da saúde mental. A Vogue Portugal lamenta profundamente qualquer ofensa ou incómodo que este editorial possa ter causado. Após reflexão, compreendemos que o assunto da saúde mental requer uma abordagem mais ponderada. As nossas sinceras desculpas pelo sucedido. . #vogueportugal @lighthouse.publishing #editorinchief @sofia.slucas

A post shared by Vogue Portugal (@vogueportugal) on Jul 6, 2020 at 2:50am PDT

But today (Monday 6 July), they added another statement saying they had made the decision to withdraw the hospital image.

The post said: ‘On such an important issue such as mental health we cannot be divided. Vogue Portugal has taken the decision to pull one of the four covers of our July/August issue, which depicts a scene of a psychiatric hospital as well as the inside cover story based around the topic of mental health.

‘Vogue Portugal deeply apologises for any offence or upset caused by this photo shoot. On reflection, we realise that the subject of mental health needs a more thoughtful approach. We sincerely apologise for this.’

The issue will go on sale with just the three remaining covers available instead.

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