FEMEN reacts to ‘sexist’ condom ad during a Turkish-Ukrainian football match

ISTANBUL

The message of a brand’s condom banner ad during a football match between Turkish and Ukrainian teams on TV has outraged the feminist protest group, FEMEN, on the grounds that it promotes sex tourism in Ukraine.

The banner ad by condom brand Durex read, “We are with you in Ukraine,” and appeared during the 56th minute of the Aug. 5 football match between Turkish club Fenerbahçe and Ukranian Shakhtar Donetsk. It was interpreted by the group as a reference to the country’s notorious sex tourism.

Inna Shevchenko, the leader of FEMEN, claimed that Durex highlighted sex tourism in Ukraine by showing the ad on Turkish viewers’ screens.

“We are with u in #ukraine #durex promotes sex tourism for Turkish men on TV screens during football match,” Shevchenko tweeted.

"We are with u in #ukraine" #durex promotes sex-tourism for Turkish men on TV screens during football match pic.twitter.com/Zpa9lwIR6p

— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) 6 Ağustos 2015

In addition, the Turkish branch of the group, FEMEN Turkey, has also made a statement over the controversial ad, urging its Turkish supporters to condemn the brand’s “sexist” advertisement.

“After such a huge promotion, there is nothing weird about the fact that Turkey is statistically one of the most frequent visitors of Ukraine for sex tourism, a pauperized and destabilized country where women are forced to be either a wife or a prostitute and gender roles are still common,” the statement read.

“Ukraine is not a whorehouse!” FEMEN Turkey also said in the statement.