Turkey: Turkish shampoo commercial stars Hitler

Hitler shampoo commercial being talked about all over

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 05:34 PM PDT

The story I broke (thanks to a tip from Gurhan) of a Turkish cosmetics company using video of Hitler to sell shampoo has gotten serious press. It is in The Times of Israel, the Jewish Chronicle, MEMRI, the ADL, YNet Hebrew, Israel's Channel 2 and all over the Turkish press.

The latest from Digital Journal:

In keeping with the adage that there's no such thing as a bad advertisement, an Istanbul ad agency created a truly striking shampoo commercial with the "endorsement" of an historical figure: Adolf Hitler, who was cast as a symbol of virility.

Reaction over the use of an Adolf Hitler speech in a Turkish shampoo commercial grew as Turkey's Jewish Community made an announcement to condemn the act. The TV commercial was prepared for a new "men's shampoo", which claims that the product is effective against dandruff and stimulates growth of hair. Part of a Hitler speech was dubbed where he declares: "If you don't wear women's clothes then don't use a women's shampoo. Now there's a hundred percent men's shampoo Biomen. If you're a man you use Biomen."

The Jewish Community announcement said "We are reminding once more, with emphasis , that it is unacceptable to use, in a commercial and in the name of creating a difference in advertisement, Hitler who represents the perverse mentality that has caused the brutal deaths of millions of people. We are condemning this mentality and stressing once again the necessity of apologising to the public in order to repair the injury inflicted on humanity's conscience."

Turkish media also blasted the commercial and the company that has so far refused to withdraw it, saying it's socially irresponsible and in bad taste. Fatih Cekirge, a columnist, criticised the cosmetics industry for demeaning women and casting Hitler as a symbol of virility. He asked "Who's going to clean up the anger created by this advertisement?" The commercial has been aired on most TV stations across the country.

My YouTube edit of the commercial has 17,000 hits so far.