Bnei Brak needs women

Tnuva, one of Israel’s largest producers of dairy products, has been running an advertisement in the ultra-Orthodox press that presents an idyllic scene of a religious neighborhood, with one noticeable exception — there were no females present.

The advert, distributed in Bnei Brak, shows over 100 characters in a street tableau, but no women or girls.

Typically, advertisements targeting the ultra-Orthodox community will never include an image of a female, but because this particular advertisement shows what is supposed to be normal street life, the lack of women seems to have rubbed a number of general consumers the wrong way, leading to a stream of complaints and comments on the company’s Facebook page, Ynet News reported on Thursday.

Responding to the controversy, Tnuva said that in conceiving marketing campaigns, “We treat every market in accordance with its lifestyle” and the ultra-Orthodox media has “rules for showing girls and women.”

The company “provides milk products for the Israeli population in all its groups … of course we did not intend to hurt the public’s feelings in any way. If someone was hurt but this, we apologize.”