Ad using Hitler to sell shampoo sparks outrage

(CBS/AP) ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's Jewish community is protesting a Turkish commercial that uses an old film footage of Adolf Hitler to sell shampoo.

The Jewish community and the Chief Rabbi's office on Monday called Hitler "the most striking example of cruelty and savagery" and said using his image in a commercial was unacceptable.

The statement also demanded a public apology from the advertising company "to repair the damage this commercial has caused to society's conscience."

According to Reuters, the Biomen commercial lasts 13 seconds and shows black-and-white archival footage of Hitler at a political rally. Hitler appear to be shout in a dubbed-over Turkish voice: "If you are not wearing women's dress, you shouldn't be using women's shampoo either!"

The New York-based Anti-Defamation League said on its website that it was "repulsed" by the company's attempt to sell shampoo using images of the Nazi leader.

"The use of images of the violently anti-Semitic dictator who was responsible for the mass murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust to sell shampoo is a disgusting and deplorable marketing ploy," said Abraham H. Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's national director and a Holocaust survivor, in a statement.

Jewish community leader Silvyo Ovadya told Reuters that Biota Laboratories, which makes Biomen, said they will not get rid of the commercial because the idea is humorous. Ovadya added that they are pursuing legal avenues to get it off the air, but did not detail how they intended to do that.