September 10, 2009

Hitler safe-sex ad pulled from YouTube

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A controversial ad that uses Hitler to scare viewers away from unsafe sex was pulled from YouTube, according to news reports.

The move Wednesday follows mounting criticism of the safe-sex campaign for cheapening the suffering of Holocaust victims.

The Regenbogen (Rainbow) Association ad features a steamy sex scene in which the face of Hitler, heretofore a disguised lover, suddenly leers at the viewer, followed by the message “AIDS is a mass murderer.” It is due to air later in September on German TV.

The association’s Web site also shows poster designs featuring Saddam Hussein and Joseph Stalin, each with a naked woman, under the same slogan.

YouTube citied possible violations of terms of use for pulling the ad. There was no immediate comment from Regenbogen or YouTube about the decision. Earlier, Regenbogen director Heiko Schoessling said the shock ad was needed to bring home the message that AIDS cases are on the rise.

But Stephan Kramer, secretary-general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the French news agency AFP that while the ad might gain attention for an important issue, it was “an insult to the victims of the Nazi era, among them gays and lesbians who were sent to concentration camps in the thousands.”