An advertising stunt by a Turkish shampoo company has backfired, as public outrage has grown over a commercial starring Adolf Hitler.
The ad shows stock footage of Hitler addressing the public from a podium. Superimposed words read, "If you're not wearing women's clothes, you shouldn't be using women's shampoo either. Here it is. A real man's shampoo! Biomen. Real men use Biomen!"
Within hours of its release, the commercial earned the ire of bloggers and YouTube users alike. The Anti-Defamation League responded in kind, “The use of images of the violently anti-Semitic dictator who was responsible for the mass murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust to sell shampoo is a disgusting and deplorable marketing ploy,” ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said in a statement.
“It is an insult to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, those who survived, and those who fought to defeat the Nazis. This video is just the latest example of the use of Holocaust imagery in some countries to sell commercial products, which has contributed to the trivialization of and desensitization to the unparalleled horrors of the Holocaust. There can never be any justifiable purpose for using the images of Hitler, Nazis or any other depiction of the Nazi killing machine to sell products or services.”
The ADL also addressed a letter to His Excellency Namik Tan, Republic of Turkey Ambassador to the US, calling on the Turkish government to condemn the offensive ad.
“That this advertisement was created in Turkey, for a Turkish audience, when Turkey is so justifiably proud of its history as a haven for Jews, and in light of its recent projects promoting education about and awareness of the Holocaust, is particularly troubling,” ADL wrote in the letter.
Even a 5 year old kid could do a better job.