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Netflix Draws Flak for Show About Ultra-Rich Mexico City Elites

Netflix Draws Flak for Show About Ultra-Rich Mexico City Elites

(Bloomberg) -- Netflix Inc.’s new reality show in Mexico hasn’t even premiered yet and already it’s garnering plenty of attention -- a lot of it negative.

Netflix announced Monday that “Made In Mexico,” which follows the lives of Mexico’s City’s “wealthiest elites,” is set to debut Sept. 28. Almost immediately, angry consumers flooded the company’s Twitter account to decry the streaming service’s decision to focus on nine ultra-rich jet-setters in a nation plagued with poverty and inequality.

Netflix Draws Flak for Show About Ultra-Rich Mexico City Elites

“Mexico is such a beautiful country with so much to offer,” one Twitter user said. “And y’all thought what we needed to see was a reality show with a bunch of rich spoiled adults?”

Fueling this debate is the deep inequality seen throughout Mexico, where more than 40 percent of the population lives in poverty. Scandals centered around the opulent lifestyles of Mexico’s socialites surface from time to time -- almost always involving the children of wealthy businessmen.

This isn’t Netflix’s first foray into made-for-Mexico TV. Two earlier shows -- “Club de Cuervos,” about a pair of siblings who inherit a soccer team, and the biographical “Luis Miguel La Serie” -- were well received by both viewers and critics. “La Casa de las Flores,” a dark-humor telenovela spoof, started streaming last week to mixed feedback.

The backlash comes from viewers who say they turn to Netflix for quality alternatives to Grupo Televisa SAB, the Mexican TV giant known for its cheesy dramas and over-the-top soap operas with outrageous plot twists.

As another Twitter user put it: “You mean to tell me then that Netflix is going to stream classism/racism that Mexicans already get with the usual novelas from Televisa and Canal de las Estrellas?"

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Navarro in Mexico City at anavarro30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Jessica Brice

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.