Pizza Hut in Israel has been forced to withdraw an offensive ad that mocked Palestinians on a hunger strike.
Presently, more than 1500 Palestinian prisoners are on a hunger strike in Israeli prisons protesting detention without trial.
However, one of the leaders of the protest, a Marwan Barhgouti, was filmed eating a chocolate bar in his cell. Barhgouti is serving a life sentence for killing a number of Israeli settlers in the early 2000s.
Pizza Hut turned the image of Barhgouti into an ad with a caption that read:”Barghouti, if you’re going to break a strike, why not pizza?” and Photoshopped a Pizza Hut pizza into his cell.
The ad has infuriated Palestinians and pro-Palestinian supporters for mocking the prisoners and they’ve called for a global boycott of the brand on social media. An altered image of the Pizza Hut logo featuring barbed wire, a prison and a call for a boycott soon going viral.
Pizza Hut quickly deleted the ad from its Facebook page and issued an apology: “Pizza Hut International apologises for any offence caused by a recent post on Pizza Hut Israel’s Facebook page.
“It was completely inappropriate and does not reflect the values of our brand. The local franchise in the country removed it immediately and the relationship with the agency that posted it was terminated, and we truly regret any hurt this may have caused.”
