Sainsbury's shows shoppers how to 'get the slave look' with 12 Years A Slave display mannequin

Summer look comes complete with pocketed twig

The 12 Years A Slave stand has begun to spread around Twitter (Twitter)

This year's Oscar winning films undoubtedly made an impact on high street fashion, from the bejewelled 70s dresses of American Hustle to the 90s power suits of The Wolf of Wall Street, but few could have predicted Sainsbury's pushing the ragged clothes of 12 Years A Slave.

For reasons unknown, an Oxford branch of the supermarket embellished its DVD and Blu-ray stand for Steve McQueen's film about the horrors of slavery with a mannequin wearing a similar outfit to that of protagonist Solomon Northup.

Looking defiantly summer-ready, the mannequin wears a loose-fitting, holey beige shirt and black trousers, completing the look with a twig in the front pocket.

Backed by spindly branches and standing next to a plaque that shouts 'NEW', it wears a tag around its neck bearing the price of the recently-released DVD, suggesting the clothes themselves aren't for sale, though the juxtaposition is a strange one nonetheless.

The display stand was snapped by a shopper and swiftly uploaded on Twitter.

A spokesperson for Sainsbury's said: “We can only apologise. It’s been taken down from the Heyford Hill store and clearly should never have gone up in the first place."

Read more: Italian distributor apologises for 12 Years A Slave poster that is just Brad Pitt's massive face