Shampoo Ad Featuring Hitler Sparks Outrage

[LuvNewcastle]

A new Turkish shampoo commercial featuring video of Adolf Hitler declaring the hair rinse a product for "real men" has been met with formal complaints from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and others who say it is deeply offensive.

"We follow with sadness and regret the use of Hitler figure in the Biomen Men Shampoo advertisement, which was brought to the screen in recent days," the Turkish Jewish Community said in a statement. "It's totally unacceptable to make use of Hitler, the most striking example of cruelty and savagery. ... Using him in an advertisement for whatever reason is an unacceptable situation and could not be accepted by us at all. This is beyond all ethics as well as a huge insult to human rights."
The ad has been running on Turkish television stations for about a week, AFP reports.

In the ad from shampoo maker "Biomen," archived video of former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler is played in which he is seen yelling and gesturing wildly with his hands, while a fictional text translates his message across the screen.

"If you are not wearing a woman's dress, you should not use her shampoo either," Hitler says in the ad. "Here it is, a real mens' shampoo, Biomen." The video then cuts to a picture of the shampoo bottle with the on-screen message, "Real men use Biomen."

[left on green only]

1. Farms in Turkey?

Why did I think that the society's in other countries would be exempt from the advertising distortions and lies that pervade Wall St. in this country?

[dogknob]

2. Mel Brooks blurred the lines on this issue.

Did the ADL object to "the use of Holocaust imagery in some countries to sell commercial products, which has contributed to the trivialization and desensitization to the unparalleled horrors of the Holocaust"* when The Producers became a Broadway smash and a hit Hollywood film, making oven-fuls of money?

I am a huge fan of Mel Brooks and I am familiar with his philosophy in regard to the Third Reich; he believes that Hitler should be laughed at and parodied for eternity.

I watched the ad with Brooks in mind and found it to be hilarious, but I cannot vouch for the motivations of the ad's creators, nor am I qualified to address the social implications of such an ad appearing on Turkish TV.

Such an ad would of course never play on US television, where increasingly offensive advertising takes a more subtle approach.


*quoted from ADL response to the ad.

[Owlet]

3. Agreed

"I am a huge fan of Mel Brooks and I am familiar with his philosophy in regard to the Third Reich; he believes that Hitler should be laughed at and parodied for eternity. "

For example, all of the 'Hitler Reacts' vids on YouTube. One of my favorites: