Dubai gym apologises over Auschwitz-Birkenau advert
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
09.01.2012 12:35
The British owner of a gym in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has apologised after using an image of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp as part of an advertising campaign to lose weight at the premises.
A photograph of the entrance to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, currently a state museum in southern Poland, was uploaded onto the gym's Facebook page, accompanied by a pro-slimming slogan.
“Kiss your calories goodbye,” ran the advert for the Circuit Factory gym.
Poland's Foreign Ministry was among international institutions that protested against the campaign.
“The Foreign Ministry condemns this outrageous advertisement,” says spokesman from the ministry Marcin Bosacki.
“The Polish ambassador to the United Arab Emirates immediately sent a letter of protest to the owner of the club, who was advertising in such a shameful way.”
Abraham Foxman, a Holocaust survivor and director of the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League expressed his organisation's objections in an official statement.
“We are increasingly troubled by both the ignorance and mindset of a generation that appears to be so distant from a basic understanding of the Holocaust that it seems acceptable to use this horrific tragedy as a gimmick to bring attention to losing weight.”
The owner of the gym, phil Parkinson, has apologised for the offense and has removed the photograph from the facebook site.
About 1.3 million people, mainly Jews, were sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps, where gas chambers were ultimately used to exterminate inmates. The majority had died by the time the camp was liberation in January 1945. (nh/pg)