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Sorry seems to be the hardest word…

January 11, 2012 1:41 by Eva Fernandes

Kipp’s been following the story of a rather offensive ad (following recent international attention on a questionable Chinese restaurant ad from Dubai) which was retracted with ‘we weren’t trying to be offensive’ kind of attitude (surprise, surprise) but later substantiated their apology by way of a charitable gesture (what a surprise!—really!).

The Circuit Factory in Al Quoz was the centre of much controversy in the online realm when 10 images were uploaded on January 2^nd as part of a new ad campaign. The pictures included one rather famous photograph of Auschwitz with “Kiss your calories goodbye”—because the gym was ‘a calorie concentration camp’ according to the founder of the gym. Calorie concentration camp, get it?

The Circuit Factory was bombarded with angry tweets within hours of the posting. Some of the images have since been taken down. Kipp didn’t get a chance to have a look at the pictures, but as The National will tell you: “One was a poster depicting a toilet full of faeces, accompanied by the word “bootcamps”. The second showed men doing press-ups, with the caption: “Saving Dubai from s**t like this”. The third was a poster of four scantily dressed women that proclaimed: “Are you a fat s**g? Just be a s**g.”

Phil Parkinson, the founder of the Circuit Factory’s Facebook group was quick to apologise: “I apologise if I have offended anyone with the campaign. That was certainly not my intention when we created it. You put strong ideas across, and if they’ve been poorly received then I apologise.”

A prompt apology is rather impressive, especially considering facing crisis head on and so openly is not common sight. Not to name names, but Kipp has yet to see any kind of formal acknowledgement, explanation or apology for DDB and China Times over their somewhat racist ad that has been making the rounds on the Internet for a good three weeks now.

But Phil Parkinson and The Circuit Factory took the apology one step further when he announced plans to donate the weekend proceedings from fitness class to go to a UK-based Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association. In an email to The National Parkinson said: “At the moment I just have the name [of the charity], so I’ve emailed them – they’ll definitely receive donations, so tomorrow I will make the payment of $1,061 (Dh3,900).”

How is that for damage control? As far as Kipp is concerned a lot of businesses and customer service departments here in the emirates can take a leaf or two out of The Circuit Factory’s book, at least the part about swift post-crisis action.

Tags: anti-Semitic, concentration camp ad, racist ad, the circuit factory, the circuit factory ad, the circuit factory ad apology, the circuit factory offensive ads