CAIRO: World renowned Egyptian pop star Amr Diab has been caught in the midst of online fury after audiences accused him of enabling ‘sexual harassment of women’ in his new advertisement with car manufacturer Citroen.
Social media users expressed that the advert promoted “sexism, sexual harassment, violence and objectification of women” after it was aired.
This is a really creepy ad from Citroën. I have many questions for Amr Diab https://t.co/VyMseYTV9g
— Danny Hajjar داني حجار (@DanielGHajjar) December 28, 2021
Terrible. Citroen Egypt runs creepy ad starring pop star Amr Diab. @Citroen global marketing must have been sleeping at the wheel. #wtf pic.twitter.com/e5U9zD8JBr
— Flying Dervish (@fly_dervish) December 29, 2021
In the commercial for the French car company, Citroen, the pop star is seen tapping his vehicle’s screen to take a photo of a woman crossing the street in order to showcase an advanced feature in the car.
The new option allowed Diab to snap the picture and send it to his mobile phone.
Harassing women the Amr Diab way https://t.co/e2foEtUqxV
— Mohammed Anabtawi (@MoeAnabtawi) December 29, 2021
The rest of the scenes in the commercial show Diab taking the woman out on dates.
The ad, which was launched last month, has allegedly been removed from YouTube, and reports suggest that neither Diab could be reached to comment on the situation.
Citroen's Egypt office issued a statement apologizing for the ad, saying that the company "deeply regrets and understands the negative interpretation."
The car manufacturing company also withdrew the commercial from all channels.
