Home » Sushi Chain “Apologises” & Dumps Ad Featuring A Black Man Following Death Threats

2 September, 2021

Sushi Chain “Apologises” & Dumps Ad Featuring A Black Man Following Death Threats

A sushi delivery chain in Russia has apologised for and later withdrawn a social media ad that featured a Black man after it received death threats from an ultra-nationalist hate group.

The campaign by sushi company YobiDoyobi – which owns 65 outlets nationwide – shows a Black man surrounded by three women all eating a variety of Japanese foods.

YobiDoyobi co-founder Konstantin Zimen said he and the business had received a barrage of threats and abuse after Vladislav Pozdnyakov, the leader of a group called the ‘Male State’, a nationalist anti-woman movement, shared the ad on social media.

The group called on its members to phone in fake orders so that YobiDoyobi would “pay for the N-word and lose money”.

There has also reportedly been threats made against the three female models in the advert.

While YobiDoyobi initially said it would not give in to pressure, it removed the advert over the weekend and published an apology on its social media accounts.

The company commenting via Instagram: “On behalf of the entire company, we want to apologise for offending the public with our photos. We have removed all the content that caused this commotion.”

Zimen later telling the news service VC.ru: “Pozdnyakov’s followers advocated for ‘real actions’ against our brand. They are publishing the social media profiles of the women that took part in the advertisement and are writing negative reviews on all review sites, online maps, App Store, Google Play.”

The ‘Male State’ reportedly boasts over 150,000 members in Russia with founder, Vladislav Pozdnyakov, being previously jailed for hate crimes.

The latest furore comes just weeks after popular Russian organic grocer VkusVill pulled an ad that featured an LGBTQI+ family following a backlash who then later apologised for the “mistake”.

The advert was run on VkusVill’s website and showed four women sitting together at a dining table with the slogan, “Recipes for family happiness”.

A spokesperson for the brand said: “There was an article here that hurt the feelings of many of our customers, staff, partners and suppliers. We regret that this has happened, and we consider this publication to be our mistake, a manifestation of the unprofessionalism of certain employees.”

The same-sex family – which featured mother Yuma, daughters Mila and Alina, and Alina’s girlfriend Ksyusha – have since fled Russia, citing death threats.

VkusVill later replaced the image with a traditional nuclear family below.

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