LONDON — As temperatures soar to dangerous heights across Britain this week, one movie theater chain is offering shelter from the sun to one potentially vulnerable group: Redheads.
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The offer, which is strictly for redheads only, will run from Monday to Tuesday, when temperatures are expected to hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Research has found that people with pale skin, freckles and red hair, are more at risk of developing skin cancer due to their genes — though heat of this scale is dangerous for anyone. Hundreds of people have died in recent days as a punishing heatwave sweeps Britain, France, Spain and Portugal.
Unlike the United States, many locations and homes in the United Kingdom do not have air conditioning. Most cinemas, however, do.
“Since redheads are often more vulnerable than most to the sun’s rays, we’re giving them shelter from the sun inside our fully air conditioned cinema screens,” the cinema said in a statement. The company told The Washington Post that it was looking forward to seeing “how many red heads take us up on the opportunity.”
For the first time on record, red “extreme” heat warnings are in place across parts of Britain, including London — a country where infrastructure is not built for intense heatwaves. The heatwave has also sparked wildfires in Europe.
Experts say the extreme weather is yet another reminder of human-caused climate change, with some warning that future summers will only get worse if the world does not work to combat the crisis.
On social media, many hailed the cinema’s idea as a positive way to help during a heat and cost of living crisis – though some branded the initiative “offensive” to the redhead community, saying it unfairly singles out this group.
Lucy McCollum, a 29-year-old from Sheffield, who describes herself as “happily ginger” and has a baby boy that also has red hair, said the offer would not just help those struggling with the heat, but also those struggling financially.
Annual inflation in Britain hit a 40-year high of 9 percent earlier this year, sending the price of food and energy soaring — a result of Brexit, take hikes and the coronavirus pandemic.
“With the cost of living crisis, you’ve got to take what you can get on the entertainment front,” McCollum said.
In Britain, a trip to the cinema is usually expensive — especially if one wants movie snacks and a recliner chair. General admission tickets for adults cost around 12 pounds ($14) although the price can vary depending on the type of film and selected comfort level. Some tickets sell for up to 23 pounds per person ($27).
While tempting, McCollum said she would be unable to attend due to work commitments as a teacher.
Others didn’t seem to like the attention: Some posts on social media noted that redheads can often be bullied at school for their rarer hair coloring — and that the offer may ostracize the community further.
Sarah Jackson — a 27-year-old who goes by “Gingerrcurls” on Instagram who was bullied as a child for what she called her “frizzy ginger hair” — said she thought the cinema’s offer was “hilarious” and that she would have taken organizers up on the offer had there been a cinema closer to her house.
“I am constantly joking how I, as a ginger, cannot stand summer because of the heat, so when I saw the Showcase was offering free tickets for redheads during the current heatwave I immediately shared it with my friends and boyfriend,” said Jackson, who has accumulated thousands of followers including by posting about techniques that help people manage curly hair and products for people with pale skin and warmer hair tones.
The offer also forced some who were once redheaded but now losing hair to question if they were eligible for a free ticket. “Does a ginger beard count?” wrote one person. Others debated how strict the movie theater might be – or if they would take a “strawberry blonde.”
Luke Young, 31, from Peterborough, a city in the east of England, was one of those pondering his redheaded roots.
Young told The Washington Post that he did not identify as full redhead — instead describing himself as “fair-skinned” with a beard the color of a “Moroccan sunset.”
Young said the idea was “good marketing.” “A free ticket is a free ticket,” he said.
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