Rachel Lindsay criticizes new ‘Bachelorette’ season poster inspired by ‘The Graduate’

“Bachelorette” alum Rachel Lindsay isn’t a fan of the new promotional poster for the upcoming season featuring Clare Crawley.

In a recent interview on Sirius XM, Lindsay got candid about the ad and how she felt it was detracting from Crawley’s journey.

"I didn't like it," she said. "I didn't understand it, and I don't think we should be questioning what the ad is, and that's what we are talking about more than we are about her and her season ... I'm excited for Clare. I've been a big proponent of her. I'm not sure how all of this goes down with all the rumors that are going around, but I am excited for Clare and for her to have this moment."

The former “Bachelorette” admitted that she had never seen the film “The Graduate,” the inspiration behind the ad, but once she found out the plot of the movie during her conversation with host Jessica Shaw, she had another reason to criticize it.

"That's the movie?" Lindsay asked, laughing. "Okay, I'm watching it tonight. What? Now I'm hot. I gotta call somebody. I did not realize that. Okay, now I'm a little bothered."

Related: Rachel Lindsay admits she was 'against' dating outside race

Last week, the newest ad for season 16 of “The Bachelorette” was released and shared on the show’s official Instagram. In the promotional shot, Crawley, 39, is standing in the background wearing jeans and a blazer while a man is putting on a sock in the foreground.

The ad is a gender-swapped play on the film poster for “The Graduate,” a 1967 movie about an affair between a 21-year-old man, Benjamin, and an older woman, Mrs. Robinson. Over the years, Mrs. Robinson has become a term for an older woman who dates younger men.

The ad appears to use the movie reference and tagline, "It's about time," to poke fun at Crawley's age. Crawley is the oldest “Bachelorette” in the history of the show.

While some fans didn’t immediately understand the reference, others had similar feelings to Lindsay, as shown by the comments on the Instagram post and on Twitter.

“Oh I get it, because she’s old,” one commenter wrote, adding in the replies, “It’s so cheap that Bach went with the ‘cougar’ theme.”

Another fan wrote on Twitter, "Weird reference. 38 doesn’t give me Mrs. Robinson vibes."

"There are so many bigger problems happening in the world right now, but portraying the new Bachelorette as Mrs. Robinson because she’s... *GASP* 39... is not great," another Twitter user wrote.

Filming for the upcoming of the season of "The Bachelorette" began last month, and it's set to air on Tuesday, Oct. 13, on ABC.