Upon receiving appeals from the Foreign Affairs Ministry European Council, the Human Rights Human Rights Assistant General Manager, Turkey's Jewish Community and the Consumers Protection Association, the Advertising Board ruled that the cartoon was unacceptable based on the fact that ir entails racist and discriminatory messages.
The Advertising Board has withdrawn the commercial for three months as well as all other promotional activities for the product, stating that it does not comply with social responsibility awareness and that it negatively affects the public's trust in the advertising industry.
In Turkey, the Customs and Trade Industry's advertising commission oversees content in television advertising and is authorized to pull commercials and issue financial penalties for those that
violate broadcast standards.
About 20,000 Jews live in Turkey, mainly Istanbul, a city of some 14 million Muslims. Most are descendants of Sephardim who escaped the Spanish Inquisition and found refuge in the Ottoman
Empire some 500 years ago.
