Ad in Australia draws anger from Turkish community
Source: Australian Insult?
An Australian recyclable paper firm has caused widespread outrage and
anger with an advertisement using four members of the Melbourne
Turkish community. In a picture imitating the famous cover of the
Beatles’ Abbey Road album, the four Turkish men are shown crossing a
street, following eachother on a crosswalk. Underneath, the legend
says “We get enough rubbish from overseas without importing recycled
paper.”
The four men in the picture have complained that they were not told
prior to the photoshoot what would be written underneath the picture.
The firm, called Reflex, has yet to comment on the matter.
One of the four men, 52 year old Ismet Gungordu, who emigrated to
Australia 25 years ago, said he and his friends were tricked: “They
promised us $3,200 all together, and said it would be an entertaining
photo shoot. In around 2 hours, they shot 200 pictures of us. We
thought everything had gone well. Then we saw the ad. They have put
us in a strange position. I don’t know whether there are Armenians or
Greeks who are against Turkey in the ad firm. Whether or not we should
open a court case against them, and what we should do, I am not sure.”
Hurriyet, 16 September 2005
Journal of Turkish Weekly