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Dec 10, 2007

background behind the HDTV haredi ad campaign (video)

Last week I posted the video of the YES cable TV ad for their upcoming release of HDTV depicting Haredim protesting the impending toeyva.
After I posted it, YES released their own digital version of the commercial and the quality was, obviously, a million times better than the version I put up. However, due to Haredi protests against the commercial (ironic isn't it that they protest a commercial about them protesting..), they took it down and stopped the commercial.
I will now give you the juiccy background to the story, but first.....
Here it is again, in case you missed it:



So here is the background...

They went to Romania and hired Romanian actors to act. They acquired and sewed Haredi style clothes. They performed the "protest" dancing in the streets, as you can see above...

The organization B'Tzedek turned to DBS Sattelite Services, the company behind YES, and sued them to remove the offensive ad and cancel its broadcast. Not only that but they demanded that YES/DBS issue an apology to the Haredi community.

The head of the Haredi department of the advertising agency involved, responded as a private response (not in the name of the agency) that he sees nothing wrong with the advertisement as it is.It shows Haredim protesting against the TV, not coming out in favor of it. They worked hard to create an ad that would not insult the Haredi public...

Rav Yisrael Eichler, a former MK from UTJ and the current chairman of the Center ofr Jewish Hasbarah, thinks differently. Eichler says, "They planned the ad with the response of the Haredi public in advance as part of the campaign. The ad depicts the object of hatred, the haredim, and the abonimation (the TV) as the reason to purchase it. Eichler says, We should have just ignored the ad, but on the other hand we can learn from American Judaism: We cannot allow a precedent - American Jews do not let a slight reference of anti-semitism spread. They fight it immediately. Even though not all non-Jews love Jews, they know that they cannot start up with the Jews.

Rav Eichler called for a consumer boycott against all companies involved in the campaign, and that would teach them a lesson that the Haredi public cannot be used as a way to sell items.

4 comments:

  1. The ad shows "chareidim" protesting by dancing to a song sung to the tune of a well-known song about homosexuality. Not to mention that it is not exactly complimentary toward the chareidi community. If this is working hard to create an ad which is not insulting to the chareidi community, I'd hate to see one which is intentionally insulting.

    Further, if they really wanted to make a non-insulting ad, they should have consulted with some chareidi leaders first, instead of trying to second guess them (maybe they did, but the fact that they didn't mention this in their own defense make me feel comfortable in assuming that they didn't).

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  2. SO....THEY'RE GOPING TO BOYCOTT HDTV? I thought they already don't watch tv? hmmmm.....

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  3. there are all sorts of companies involved providing all kinds of services that could be boycotted... including advertising, Bezeq (one of the owners of YES, though I am not sure how it is possible to boycott the phone company) and more...

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  4. If this is working hard to create an ad which is not insulting to the chareidi community, I'd hate to see one which is intentionally insulting.

    Great!!!

    It was gd to read the background, thanks fr providing.

    ReplyDelete

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