"Citroën pulls Egypt ad accused of promoting harassment of women" 30 December 2021

The French car manufacturer Citroën has withdrawn an advertisement featuring the Egyptian singer Amr Diab after it sparked widespread accusations of promoting the harassment of women.

In the ad posted on Egyptian social media...[Diab] uses a camera installed in the car’s rearview mirror to secretly take a picture of a woman crossing in front of the vehicle.

The woman clearly does not give her consent to the photograph, but Diab is seen smiling at the image as it pops up on his phone. He then invites the woman to join him in the car.

The advert was criticised on social media in Egypt where 90% of women aged between 18 and 39 report having been harassed in 2019, according to a survey by the Arab Barometer research network...

Another critic...questioned how the company could have thought the advert had been a good idea. “How did this ever get approved in the first place?”...

On Thursday, Citroën said it had removed the advert. “We have been made aware that a scene…had been perceived as inappropriate,” Citroën wrote in a statement posted on its Instagram account. “We take the decision to withdraw this version of the commercial…and we present our sincere apologies to all offended communities by this film”...