Germany – Household cleaning giant Henkel has pulled a toilet freshener from Eastern European markets after an uproar because the product closely resembles the Ukrainian flag.
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A company spokesman said Wednesday that the colours for the Bref Duo Stick freshener were meant to resemble hygiene and citrus fragrance and had been chosen by mistake. “We did not intend to vilify Ukraine,” he told dpa by telephone from Duesseldorf.
A commercial for the product went viral online after being shown on Russian TV, which many Ukrainians watch. It shows the small sticker resembling Ukraine‘s blue and yellow flag being applied inside a toilet bowl, which is then flushed.
The spokesman, who did not disclose his name, said that the freshener had not yet been introduced to the Ukrainian market.
The incident comes only days after the US rock band Bloodhound Gang was banned from Ukraine and Russia after a band member had urinated on the Ukrainian flag and pulled the Russian one through his pants during a performance in Odessa.
I so want to comment, but since it is almost Yamim Noraim I will restrain myself.
I don’t understand. If it makes the toilet smell better, how is that anti-Ukraine? I can see if the thing that made the toilet stink looked like the Ukrainian flag…
A silly mistake. They should have known better.
I enjoyed the article’s title … a great pun!