Citroën Egypt advert accused of normalising sexual harassment

French car manufacturer Citroën has been accused of normalising sexual harassment in an advertisement in Egypt that features the pop star Amr Diab.

In the video, Diab uses a camera on his car to photograph a woman crossing the road, apparently without her consent. They are later seen driving together.

The advert was released on 3 December but it has been criticised on social media in recent days.

The Egyptian-American journalist Reem Abdellatif described it as “creepy”.

“Who thought it would be a good idea to make an ad that enables sexual harassment in a country where 98% of women reported getting harassed at some point in their lives?” she wrote on Twitter.

Writer Amal Alharithi tweeted: “What’s painful about Amr Diab’s advert is that the entire crew did not realise the mistake. No-one in the crew objected to taking pictures of girls in the streets without their consent. This is so sad.”



A comment on Citroën Egypt’s Instagram account warned the company that men watching the advert might mistakenly believe taking an unsolicited photo of a woman could lead to a date, when in fact they could face prosecution and imprisonment.

Neither Citroën nor Amr Diab have so far commented on the criticism.

(October 2018) Five Egyptian women shared their stories of sexual harassment and abuse with BBC Arabic

In recent years, dozens of women inspired by the #MeToo movement have spoken out on social media about their experiences of sexual harassment and assault in Egypt.

The country’s parliament approved harsher penalties for sexual harassment in July, amending the penal code to make it a felony and increasing the penalty to a minimum of two years in prison instead of six months, alongside a fine of between $6,370 (£4,740) and $12,740 (£9,480).

However, Egyptian authorities have been accused of frequently failing to investigate and prosecute men accused of sexual harassment or assault against women and girls.

A UN study in 2013 found that 99.3% of girls and women in Egypt said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment in their lifetime.

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