Unilever Israel general-manager Moti Keren on Tuesday stated he refuses to have a public apology appear in newspapers as is being demanded by leading chareidi rabbonim. Keren in a statement told the rabbis they are not responsible for being the watchman of the secular community and he has no intention of apologizing for something most people do not even know occurred.
According to a Kol Chai Radio report, if the corporation does not comply with Vaad Tznius demands to issue a public apology, the Eida Chareidis will be removing its hechsher from Unilever products and a boycotted will be launched by the chareidi community.
Some of the popular Unilever products with chareidi hechsherim include B & B, Vered HaGalil, Klean, and Telma.
Marketing people thought they were doing something good to promote items; it was not intended to offend anyone, especially the chareidi public, stated Keren.
He added, “I respect the chareidi public and everyone must respect the other’s way of life and permit others to live their life. In the future we will be increasingly vigilant and exhibit increase religious sensitivities. I met with Badatz officials and they said an apology will help and therefore, I agreed to an interview with Kol Chai Radio and issued a public apology.”
At the time of this report, it is unknown if the radio apology will satisfy the rabbonim’s request for a public apology.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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5 Responses
It was terrible what they did & it is good that they have been forced to apologize. I think the frum world would have MUCH more weight if we also protested when other unjust & wrong things were done (such as abuse of workers, smuggling people over borders etc). We could be much more of a Kiddush Hashem…
I also want to add that I read on Haaretz this morning some of the most vile, anti-Haredi “talk backs” I have ever seen. I picked up the phone & told them I “encourage” them to monitor what is up there….because if that was written about Arabs, they would have taken it down already.
I was surprised….because less than 1/2 hour later – the offensive messages were deleted!
Based on the hiloni papers, the ad in question was “relatively mild”. If one uses a internet-wide search engine, it turns out the unilever is in trouble all over the world for ads that many people, in many cultures, consider to be obscene, even by secular standards. I suspect the Vaad Tznius doesn’t even know about some of their other ads, which are much more objectionable. — However Unilever is a global conglomerate with thousands of products, and the Israeli and/or Frum market is miniscule to their overal business, and the list of brands suggests they have an overall positive attitude towards kashruth. — We are not a big part of their overall market, and to be effective, a boycott would have to involve working together with goyim on a worldwide basis.
Why would these products need a Kosher certification in the first place
What is the meaning or value of an apology
based on threats?
I just signed in to leave this note:
DO NOT look the haaretz article up!!! It is treif, it is an avera, it is a toeva, it will earn you GEHENOM! DO NOT LOOK UP THAT ARTICLE!
(I just made the mistake of looking it up, and that’s why I know)