Ron Meier, ADL New York regional director, said: “We welcome the response of Wódka vodka, and are glad that they were sensitive to our concerns and the concerns of the many New Yorkers who were offended by this advertisement. The company acted quickly and appropriately in recognising that the billboard was offensive to many and should be removed.”
The billboards promoting Wódka vodka contained an image of a dog wearing a Santa hat and a dog wearing a yarmulke with the text in large, capital letters, and were located in several locations in New York, including a well-traveled location along the West Side Highway (US).
The company announced via its Twitter feed that it had decided to pull the ads. The company tweeted: “Although rarely serious, we apologise to anyone we may have offended through our holiday campaign and are removing our billboard immediately.”
ADL initially called the billboards “crude and offensive.”
Source: ADL
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