La Roux lashes out at Fox Business Network for using her song ‘Bulletproof’ to market bulletproof backpacks for US schoolchildren

Written by Maya-Rose Torrão

Electropop songstress La Roux’s critically and commercially acclaimed single ‘Bulletproof’ from 2009 was recently used in a segment on the Fox Business Network show Mornings With Maria Bartiromo about “high-end bulletproof backpacks and clothing“, marketed at kids who are heading back to school this year.

Not only did the host of the show joke about “back-to-school backpacks taking on a whole new meaning“, but also explained that the backpacks and clothing were designed specifically for “kids in the US,” a country that has seen a total of 288 school shootings since 2009. This was all while also casually pointing out that ballistic protective equipment is a booming industry that is predicted to reach $5.57 billion by 2025.

The host, Maria Bartiromo, went on to speak to MC Armor marketing manager Carolina Ballesteros Casas about the company’s line of bulletproof products and commented on how the “heavy” line of “back to school protective equipment” is quite “fashion forward.”

After finding out about the news segment and how her song was used to introduce it, La Roux told NME: “Using ‘Bulletproof’, a song I wrote about relationships, for a piece like this is abhorrent. I have never, and would never approve my music to be used in this way.”

You can watch the intro to the segment, which uses La Roux’s synthpop hit, below.

Fox Business Network played the song “Bulletproof” to introduce a segment about using bulletproof clothing to protect school children from guns https://t.co/eVB8EmxzOw pic.twitter.com/zQ5D1yGJhj

— Katie Sullivan (@KatSulls) August 20, 2018