Newspaper ad criticized as anti-Semitic prompts apologies

[oberliner]

PORTLAND, Maine --An advertisement that was criticized as anti-Semitic has prompted apologies from the credit union that placed the ad and the newspaper that published it.

The quarter-page ad for PeoplesChoice Credit Union featured an Old West-style "Wanted" poster with a photo of a man purporting to be a banker intent on collecting a broad range of fees. It appeared Wednesday in the Portland Press Herald.

Critics said the man, who had a bushy beard and wore a suit and a short-brimmed hat, resembled a Hasidic Jew and the depiction drew on painful stereotypes.

"There are images and caricatures that have historically been used to demonize and marginalize Jewish people, with grave, grave consequences," said Andrew Tarsy, director of the Anti-Defamation League New England. "You put that ad in front of a person who has been sensitized to that experience, and you see the reaction on their face."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2007/02/16/newspaper_ad_criticized_as_anti_semitic_prompts_apologies/

Edit to add link with picture of the ad:

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=52677

[Lautremont]

1. That didn't look like the stereotype Shylock to me,

but in the end it doesn't matter what I think.

[Kingshakabobo]

6. It appears they got their stereotypes mixed up.

[theoldman]

2. I looked at the picture and it does not look like any of my

Jewish Friends.

[Kingshakabobo]

4. Do you hang out with a lot of Hasidic Jews? n/t

[theoldman]

8. Yes I do. Their hats and beards are different.

[Kingshakabobo]

3. Yikes! I tend to try to give people the benefit of the doubt.......

.......but how does that guy look like a banker from the old west........maybe from Fiddler on the Roof but not the old west.

If I were a rich man,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum..........now I'll have that song running through my head all day.


Seriously, what audience do you think they are catering to considering the other controversy mentioned in the video? Hmmmmmm?

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Costume-wise, the hat is all wrong for that interpretation.

The crown would be lower and the brim wider to be traditionally Hassidic.

OTOH, my first thought seeing the face was "Fagin".

I think the complaint is valid.

[Demit]

9. I'm with you, valid complaint. That image does not say "Old West" to me.

[POAS]

5. Looks like it could easily

have been taken for a streotypical depiction of a Jewish man!

[Behind the Aegis]

10. Compare and contrast.

Personally, I wasn't expecting it to be a "big deal." However, the pic was poorly chosen!

Credit Ad:


Anti-Jewish movie poster from 1930 Germany:

[oberliner]

11. what were they thinking?

seems like a very bad choice