'Offensive' Julia Louise Dreyfus ad pulled from YES
By JPOST.COM STAFF
02/21/2013 15:31
Satellite TV provider pulls commercial off the air following social media protest of Israeli feminist group.
Julia Louise Dreyfus ad Photo: YouTube Screenshot
The woman we all know and love as Elaine from popular 90s sitcom Seinfeld, Julia Louise Dreyfus, has struck a chord with Israeli women after appearing in a commercial in which she mistakes an overweight woman for being pregnant.
The ad, produced for local satellite television provider YES, was pulled off the air after Israeli activists used social media to voice their frustrations. Na’amat Israel women’s organization took to Facebook almost immediately after the spot was aired to post a response to the advert, saying that it was "shocked" by the "insulting" ad and that it should be removed immediately.
In the TV spot, a confident Dreyfus, who currently stars in HBO's Veep, approaches a female colleague in the office elevator, and congratulates her while patting her belly, until she awkwardly realizes the women is not pregnant. Dreyfus continues to have uncomfortable office blunders, until she approaches the larger woman once more to clarify that she should had known she wasn't pregnant, "because obviously she hasn't dated anyone in forever."
Labor MK Nachman Shai also demanded that YES remove the ad, saying in a statement: "It's shocking to think that a company, which is dependent on its customers, behaves in such a cheap and shameful way. I demand that the advert is removed from the air immediately."
The advert has since been taken off the air, and pulled from the company’s official YouTube account, replacing it with a shortened text-based ad.
YES responded with an apologetic statement, "this is a humorous advert based on the style for which the actress Julia Louis Dreyfus is known. The message of the advert is how to deal with mistakes, and if there is someone presented in a ridiculous light, then it is Julia – who makes the mistake [in the advert]. There was never any intention to upset the public in any way, and if someone feels personally offended, we apologize for that."
The commercial ends with the tag line “Made a mistake? Just fix it!” and viewers they are told how to fix their ‘mistake’ of signing up for cable and how to switch to YES satellite.