The Anti-Defamation League has protested an “offensive and outrageous” Saudi TV ad which depicts Adolf Hitler singing praises to promote MBC channel’s September film line-up.

“This offensive and outrageous campaign trivializes the Holocaust by turning Hitler into a cartoonish poster child,” Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said during a press conference.



ADL is calling for the immediate removal of the ad, which is being aired by the Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC), a Dubai-based and Saudi-owned television network.



The ad shows extracts from the fictional Quentin Tarantino movie “Inglourious Basterds,” which tells of several plots to assassinate Nazi Germany's political leadership. Arabic subtitles show Hitler’s character from the film promoting MBC’s “September to Remember” slogan, saying “they will control the entire region.” The slogan is referring to the channel’s selection of films airing in September.



"Why would a Saudi media outlet want to associate itself with one of history’s most demonic mass murderers?” Foxman asked.



“Perhaps someone thought all of this was funny, but one wonders how it will play across the Arab World, where there is scant education about the murder of six million Jews and millions of others by Hitler and the Nazis and where Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism are rampant,” the ADL Director noted.



This is not the first time the Nazi leader has been depicted in an advertising campaign. In 2012, a Turkish shampoo company featured an ad showing Hitler calling on men to purchase the product. The commercial was met with public discontent and removed from air.

