Posters in Poland are not the disposable wall art they are the U.S.; there, artists have elevated poster-making to art.

Compare Polish posters of American movies to their U.S. counterparts, for example. Histories of Poland’s great tradition in poster art can be found here and here.

Now Warsaw has forced one of Poland’s great poster artists, New York-based Rafal Olbinski, to alter his depiction of a mermaid on a poster advertising the 2006 Miss World contest. Olbinski, obviously informed by his previous work, had created a mermaid with an exposed breast. The city of Warsaw’s symbol is a bare-breasted mermaid holding a sword and shield.

Olbinski has now covered the offending boob with a white scarf, as seen in the version of the poster here. No word on the offended boobs in the Warsaw government.