A fitness club in Dubai has apologized for running a tasteless ad featuring a photo of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp, with the slogan “Kiss your calories goodbye.”
The British gym proprietor has also said he will donate his business income from this weekend to a deserving Holocaust-related charity, the United Arab Emirates-based newspaper The National reported.
“We have contacted a Holocaust charity in the UK, but were told they are privately funded so they are helping us to find a suitable charity we can send the money to,” gym founder Phil Parkinson told the newspaper.
Parkinson said he used the iconic and horrific Auschwitz photo to advertise weight-loss and exercise classes because “it’s like a calorie concentration camp.”
“The idea of the campaign isn’t to upset anybody,” he said. “The way branding works is … you want people talking about your business. We want them talking about us, but we don’t want people to take offence at it.”
He tweeted an apology on Tuesday, writing, “Apologies for the insane poster campaign that was put up this morning. The creative guy has been told where to go.”
David is The Daily Caller’s executive editor. Follow him on Twitter.