Citroën Apologizes For Ad Called Out For Normalizing Sexual Harassment Of Women
Citroën is the latest brand to come under fire for an advertisement in which women are being photographed without their permission. Following a recent South Korean commercial criticized for encouraging voyeurism, the carmaker is causing an uproar in Egypt for seemingly promoting sexual harassment.
The offending spot, which appeared on social media in early December, featured Egyptian superstar Amr Diab in a car and noticing a woman crossing the road. Using the camera installed in the rearview mirror, he takes a picture of her without her knowledge or consent. The text, “Snap every beautiful moment,” appears onscreen.
The singer then invites the woman to get into his car, reports Agence France-Presse, via the Guardian.
“Citroen..Taking sexual harassment to a whole new level!” pic.twitter.com/2Q07kEV9W8
— DollZi (@albatraozdee) December 27, 2021
Viewers have decried that the advertisement is “creepy” and disrespectful. “You’re enabling sexual harassment,” says activist and gender-based violence survivor Reem Abdellatif.
“This shows that there’s a whole TEAM of individuals who at no point along the way ever thought ‘is this appropriate?’, or ‘is there nothing wrong with this?’” comments a user in response to a Citroën Instagram post, as quoted by AFP.
According to a 2013 United Nations study, 99.3% Egyptian women have been sexually harassed at some point in their lives, with the most common type of harassment being inappropriate touching.
Citroën eventually pulled the commercial from its official channels, as well as posted an apology. “We take the decision to withdraw this version of the commercial… and we present our sincere apologies to all offended communities by this film,” it wrote on Instagram.
[via Agence France-Presse Cairo / The Guardian, cover photo 31667 © Tomislav Stajduhar | Dreamstime.com]
