Foreign Ministry condemns Latvian-based Russian media outlet Meduza’s ad featuring Ukrainians
Pravda Ukraine
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Ukraine has strongly condemned the display of images of Ukrainians affected by Russian aggression in a commercial for the Latvian-based Russian media outlet Meduza.
Source: MFA, Detector Media
Quote from the ministry: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns the demonstration of images of Ukrainians who suffered as a result of Russian terror in the advertising of the Russian media:
A special ‘award’ for marketing cynicism and hypocrisy should be given to the Lure agency from Berlin. They featured Ukrainians who lost their families and homes in a commercial for the Russian media outlet Meduza. The use of our tragedy to arouse sympathy for the Russians is a complete disgrace.”
Details: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi called for “the immediate removal of all advertisement content that exploits Ukrainian suffering caused by Russian terror from all media platforms where it appeared”. He also said that Ukrainians whose grief was cynically exploited deserve an apology.
As Detector Media writes, Victoriia Feshak, a member of the Ukrainian NGO Viche Berlin, first reported about the Meduza advertising campaign.
Feshak said she had seen the advert in a Berlin cinema before a film. The video contained shocking footage of the war in Ukraine, including the funeral of the wife and daughters of Yaroslav Bazylevych, who lost his family in the Russian attack on Lviv.
This advertisement was developed for Meduza by the Berlin-based agency Lure. The agency did not charge for its services. The campaign slogan is “Medusa begins where other headlines end”.
The campaign’s video is based on news footage, along with “first-hand accounts” from journalists who “risk their lives every day to tell the truth”.
The NGO Viche Berlin strongly condemned the advertisement, accusing the agency of manipulation and attempts to portray Russians as those who suffered in the war. They also called to stop showing this advert in European cities.
Update: As of 21:50, the campaign page featuring the video of the Ukrainians has stopped loading.
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