Behold the Magazine that Made Celebrities Look Like Refugees

On Thursday, the new issue of one of the biggest lifestyle magazines in Greece was released, with an… interesting cover. Here it is. Have a look. Have a little look at that. Anything… you see any problem with that? At all? Bear in mind that the headline says 'WE ARE ALL REFUGEES', and all of those people are celebrities in Greece. Anything? Anything?

Down Town has digitally manipulated famous Greeks into posing in costume as refugees. And they did so just a few days before Greek Carnival – which, according to tradition, takes place the last weekend before Lent, and during which people eat lots of meat and dress up in fancy costume. Let's break it down.

The headline reads "We Are All Refugees", while the line underneath states: "Famous Greeks get photographed, in order to remind us that millions of people need our help. Is it time to do something?" This might seem worthy – and, in fact, Down Town this week includes a feature where they spent two days in the Idomeni refugee camp – but the good intentions are overshadowed by the cover. Plus, it makes the celebrities look bad – by all accounts, not all of them agreed to this theme, with singer Tanya Tsanaklidou taking to her Facebook page to announce that she gave permission for the mag to use her archived pictures, but was "ashamed" by the ensuing cover.

The celebrities that got photographed are well known in Greece, but it's a mixed bag. Among them, you can see people so famous they might be considered cultural representatives, but most – if not all – have not shown much concern about the refugees, really. Some of the people on this cover have even crossed to the other side, recently referring to refugees as "illegal immigrants". For many, this sudden sensitivity is at best hypocritical, and at worst, further proof that the magazine just took advantage of a serious issue in order to raise its sales.

The refugee crisis is one of the biggest issues in Greece at the moment. Thousands of people are trapped inside the country because the so-called "Balkan route" is closed, with the situation in Idomeni infuriating many Greeks, while boats full of refugees keep arriving at the shores of Lesvos, Kos, Chios and other Greek islands. The harsh realities of this situation have given birth to a huge solidarity movement among the Greek public – but at the same time, more and more people feel free to be openly racist or exploit this second modern Greek drama financially. This very cheap depiction of human suffering in print was meant to say "solidarity", but instead it says "exploitation".

People's reaction, especially on social media, was not great. Outrage culture is as alive and well in Greece as it is anywhere else, and the cover quickly went viral (bad viral, not good viral). Most internet users have expressed their rage against the hypocrisy of the magazine and the celebrities who chose to participate – comments such as "gross", "disgusting" and "shame" are rife. Based on these reactions, it looks like most people in Greece are more on the "solidarity" side of things.

Don't put celebrities – or anyone – on the cover of a magazine bearing the 'WE ARE ALL REFUGEES' tagline. It's not actually very helpful.

@melpaki