Egged has been under fire by feminists and anti-chareidi elements for not showing females in bus ads in the capital, accusing the bus company of acquiescing to chareidi pressure. The pressure has also been focused against the Canaan advertising company that is responsible for the bus company’s ads.
According to Canaan officials, beginning last month, there are no persons appearing in ads in the capital, not men or women, seeking to invalidate claims of gender discrimination against the company for not showing women in ads in Jerusalem to date.
Walla News spoke with Egged spokesman Dan Ratner, who is quoted as saying “In light of the High Court of Justice decision prohibiting discrimination against women in adverts on buses, the legal experts in Egged and Canaan decided that in Yerushalayim, they will no display men or women.
“Jerusalem is a mixed city which is also home to tens of thousands of chareidim and to our sorrow; some of them are quite extremist. They were judges regarding the buses and they stoned them and defaced the ads. Police even prohibited buses from entering Meah Shearim. As such, an agreement was reached with the advert company until the current contract runs out at the end of 2013”.
Jerusalem Councilwoman Meirav Cohen of the Hisorarus Party said “The party calls on Egged management to reweigh the decision and if it does not retract it, we will turn to the minister of transportation to become involved”.
Yerushalmim Councilwoman Rachel Azarya added “How far will they go to avoid seeing women in the public eye? It appears at this pace, the next step will be to cancel buses in Jerusalem. We will continue the struggle to ensure women are in the public domain despite the wisecracks and evasive tactics of the Canaan Company.”
MK (Meretz) Nitzan Horowitz added “This is another delusional decision by Egged that acquiesces time and time again to extremist chareidim in Yerushalayim. After falling back to the humiliation they decided to throw women to the back of the bus and suppress showing women on ads. Now, everyone is disqualified from appearing on ads. Once again this proves submission in one case invites the next. The blind eye of the Ministry of Transportation permits this fiasco.”
Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Yossi Deutsch adds “Egged decided to act wisely and not to enter into unnecessary problems. Are we living in a nation that demands showing people in ads? How far are we deteriorating? Now there must be photos of women? Who decided images must be displaced to avoid calling it discrimination? There is a limit. Don’t make us crazy. Permit us to live in peace”.
Shas Councilman Asher Mishaeli adds “Jerusalem is a complicated city and it is holy to three religions. The complexities of religious –secular relations must be worked out peacefully. Each side must understand the positive and the negative of the other side. Regarding Egged ads, I believe there are many creative ways of advertising without the images of men and women.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
It really should not be called “appeasement”. Running a business is about making your customers happy, and that means respecting your customers cultural norms. If you wish to sell to both Hareidim and Hilonim (and probably to Muslims as well), you need to be clever. Such cleverness is what advertising agencies “pitch” in return for good fees.