(Horrific) fake ad of the week: Subaru car running over Palestinian children

The world at large reckon advertising people have no morals at all, and would actually stoop this low. They forget we're in the business of selling, and death does not sell.

Occupied Palestine ran an article on Friday with the headline: "Subaru Car Ad In Israel Shows “Power” By Running Over Palestinian Children".

A new advertisement in Israel, meant to show the “power and durability” of the Japanese Subaru car, caused outrage after showing a Subaru driven by a Jewish settler striking two Palestinian children in occupied East Jerusalem.

I can't believe I have to tell people this, but after watching some in my tweetflow think this is for real (wow, gullible much?) here it comes: the ad is a fake. It's a Hoax ad, not a scam ad or a portfolio piece, just some guy with photoshop and an idea. Hoax ads are something I've often ranted against as they can easily be mistaken for real ads, and bring a well managed brand down.

Subaru: We have no link to ad showing kids hit by car

A spokeswoman for Japan Auto said on Thursday that the company had nothing to do with the advertisement, saying, “We strongly condemn these elements that are trying to harm the good name of the company.”
She added that the company did not plan to take any action over the advertisement, as it has no idea where it originated from.
The advertisement, which does not appear to have been published in any mainstream media outlets, was sent to media this week by the PA Government Media Center, which called on Subaru to “take all necessary steps to stop the circulation of this despicable and disgraceful ad and condemn it.”
However, the PA, although not revealing where it had obtained the advertisement, also acknowledged that it is not clear whether the ad is genuine or whether someone not connected to the company has made use of the Subaru logo without its approval.

Subaru dragged into Palestinian-Israeli row

Israeli Radio on Thursday quoted a spokesman of Subaru cars company in Israel as saying that the company "has no relation to the commercial or publishing it, and the company had protested against those who are causing harms to the good reputation of the company."

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Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
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AnonymousCoward's picture

That's awful. Where did this Hoax ad come from? A site like 4chan?

Dabitch's picture

Who knows.

I can tell you where the image has been spotted, though.

this small image here is named "subaru ainoa oikea valinta suomen talveen", which means Subaru the only right choice Finnish winter in Finnish. It has as you can see, another Subaru logo photoshopped on to the news image, clearly the same idea though.

In short, I think this tasteless "joke" has been told a few times, and only now has it been turned into "Really it's an ad I TOTALLY saw it in the newspaper, for reals."

omerosen's picture

There is a similar ad, this time a Nike shoe that survived a terror attack while the Israeli that wore didn't.
It was a viral hit 7 years ago.

Dabitch's picture

What the what!? Who makes these sick things? That one is even 'better' in that is has a pretty decent layout. ugh. Thanks for sharing, this is a whole new level of hoaxvertising that I'm not so versed in.

omerosen's picture

It is just an Israeli humour. Nothing to get worried about.

Dabitch's picture

I'm more worried about the people who thought it was a real ad. It's like falling for a bad entry in Worth1000.

AnonymousCoward's picture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2unZIzIwp0

Fake? Watch the video for yourself. The still shot was taken from this new clip!

Dabitch's picture

Moron, the fakeness is in regards to it being an ad for Subaru. Nobody is denying that this story happened, your newsclip does not prove the advert is a real one.

Joys's picture

This was really so very interesting and fun for me to read. I have enjoyed reading this information so much. This was great.