Australian company Valley Eyewear has prompted outrage by publishing a sunglasses ad shot at Croatian World War II death camp Jasenovac. The firm told DW the photos were “taken completely out of context.”
Australian-based Valley Eyewear firm was forced to apologize on Tuesday over its advertising video made on the site of Jasenovac concentration camp. The internet ad caused a storm of criticism online after being posted on the company’s social media accounts several days ago. Users have also called for a boycott of the company’s products.
The black and white video, which has since been removed, shows a male and a female model wearing Valley Eyewear sunglasses inside a bleak concrete room and walking around concrete structures, before cutting to a wide shot of the two walking away from Jasenovac’s Flower Memorial.
The recognizable structure, designed by architect Bogdan Bogdanovic, was built in 1966 to honor the memory of the camp victims.
The Jasenovac death camp in Croatia was run by the Ustasha, the fascist regime allied with Nazi Germany during World War II. Camp historians have determined the names of 83,145 killed at the site, including more than 20,000 children. Most of the victims were Serbs, alongside Roma and Jews. Some experts believe the total number of victims to be much higher.
According to screenshots of deleted Valley Eyewear posts, the company said the ad for their “Black” line of sunglasses was “filmed on location in Croatia at one of World War II’s most historic and darkest locations. JASENOVAC.”