Turkish ad featuring Hitler is pulled
Mobilization of Jewish community in Turkey pushed controversial ad off the air
A controversial Turkish commercial for men’s shampoo featuring Adolf Hitler was pulled Tuesday, after local Jewish groups applied pressure to the ad company.
“Decisive action by the leaders of the Turkish Jewish community mobilized national and international public opinion against the shockingly offensive use of Hitler imagery for commercial purposes,” said David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee. “And in short order, the company responsible for this outrage reversed course.”
Türk Musevi Cemaati, which represents the Jewish community of Turkey and is an AJC partner group, spoke out forcefully against the Biomen commercial, which began running on a Turkish sports channel last week.
Turkish Jewish Community leaders also credited leading Turkish newspapers, including Milliyet and Hurriyet, with rallying public criticism of the commercial, and expressed gratitude for supportive commentary in news media and by Jewish organizations around the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2hf4zdKGpMI
Dozens of bloggers also wrote about the commercial and called it disgusting.
The ad portrayed the Nazi leader shouting that if men do not wear women’s clothes they should not be using women’s shampoo. The video, posted on YouTube, received hundreds of comments, with most people expressing their distaste for the commercial; others dismissed it as harmless.
The Nazi leader has been used as a marketing ploy before. In 2010 an Italian clothing company ran billboards depicting Hitler in a pink uniform with a heart armband and a caption that read “Change style. Don’t follow your leader.” In 2007 Germany banned a commercial for Xbox showing Hitler discussing “strategy” with his advisers.
