Stellantis’ Citroen Panned For Creepy Egyptian Ad Accused Of Promoting Sexual Harassment

French automaker Citroen has been heavily criticized for a video advertisement in Egypt that depicts what could be considered as a sexual harassment act. The commercial has been removed, with Citroën issuing an apology on Thursday.

The accusations focus on a specific part of the commercial where Egyptian pop star Amr Diab can be seen using the C4‘s mirror-mounted camera to take a creepy photo of a woman walking on the street without asking for her permission. Then the video goes on to depict the pedestrian being romantically involved with Diab, which somehow justifies the predatory act as an acceptable way of flirting.

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لو بتدور على الراحة، يبقى بتدور على ستروين C4 الجديدة!
اتفرج على ستروين C4 الجديدة مع الهضبه واكتشف المعنى الحقيقي للراحة.#CitroënEgypt#NewCitroënC4#AmrDiab#CitroënXAmrDiab pic.twitter.com/mcWZCMigsN

— Amr Diab (@amrdiab) December 3, 2021

The ad was withdrawn following a backslash of complaints on Twitter, although a minority defended it saying it was just a commercial. Among the critics was Egyptian actress and writer Rosaline Elbay who wrote: “Hi Citroen, this is sexual harassment. You know. The crime?”.

In the same context, Egyptian-American journalist Reem Abdellatif wrote: “Who thought it would be a good idea to make an ad that enables sexual harassment in a country where 98% of women reported getting harassed at some point in their lives?”.

See Also: Citroen C4 And e-C4 Are Not Your Usual Compact Hatchbacks

Citroen, which is owned by the Stellantis group, apologized to everyone who was offended issuing the following statement:

“Citroën cares for all communities in the countries where we operate and we do not tolerate any form of harassment. We deeply regret and understand the negative interpretation of this part of this film. With our business partner in Egypt, we took the decision to withdraw this commercial from all Citroën channels and we present our sincere apologies to all offended communities by this film.”

Amr Diab, who has more than 13.8 million followers on Instagram and over 30 album releases during his musical career, has yet to comment on the matter.

As reported by BBC, earlier this year the Egyptian parliament approved harsher penalties for sexual harassment by making it a felony and increasing the sentence from six months to a minimum of two years in prison, with an additional fine of $6,370-12,740. Despite the strict rules, local authorities have been accused of not investigating cases of sexual harassment or assault against females as they should. According to a 2013 study from the United Nations, 99.3 percent of Egyptian girls and women have experienced some form of sexual harassment in their lifetime, showing that this is a very serious issue in the country.