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Polish embassy in Prague lodges complaint against ‘offensive’ ad

PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp 04.12.2014 12:11
The Polish embassy in Prague has complained to telecoms operator T-Mobile in the Czech Republic about an advert which it has deemed offensive to Poles.

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Image: screenshot/Youtube

“The advert [...] was an unpleasant surprise for me. We strongly protest against such simplified and scandalous depictions of Poles,” wrote Polish Ambassador in Prague Grazyna Bernatowicz in a letter to the T-Mobile CEO in the Czech Republic, Milan Vasina.

The 36-second clip shows a group of Czech skiers crossing the border into Poland. At one point one of the group receives a phone call. When he attempts to answer, the device refuses to work. This is a cue for a Polish hawker camouflaged as a tree to try to sell the man a variety of wares in broken Polish.

Following a short conversation, the Czech skier decides to trade in his old phone for a shiny new “amerykanski” model from the entrepreneurial Pole. The handset immediately breaks, but when the skier looks up to complain, the Pole is nowhere to be seen.

This is not the first foreign advert which shows Poles in a bad light. An advert by German retailer Media Markt played on a stereotype in Germany that Poles are thieves. (rg/jb)

Source: IAR/TVP Info

Watch the video below:

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