A few days ago, the company Citroen Egypt, the car manufacturer, presented an advertisement for its latest "4 Citroen" cars in Egypt, with artist Amr Diab.
The ad caused a wave of anger, ridicule and accusations of inciting harassment.
The announcement included a presentation of the new car’s features, the most important of which is the Connected cam feature, which is a compact, high-resolution camera designed to take pictures. The announcement is Amr Diab's singing voice.
Many comments were made, and many users of social media platforms participated in the advertisement, attacking its makers, as it contained incitement to photograph people without their permission, particularly women, describing the content of the advertisement as inciting to violate the privacy of others.
The feature can be used to harass women, because legally harassment - according to the Penal Code - is all about making sexual or pornographic things, allusions, or insinuations, whether by gesture, word, or deed by any means, including wired or wireless means.
Abdel Fattah Yahya, a cassation lawyer and legal advisor at the Egyptian Women’s Issues Foundation says: “Photographing an individual without his permission is a criminal matter. It is not permissible to take pictures without permission, and the law is strict and is more strict when a person is inside his home, and the law stressed this matter even if there is a crime that must be photographed.” The pictorial materials are not legally valid because they were made without the permission of a prosecutor.
He added, "The penalty for filming duo, then, is different if it is accompanied by one of the legally known acts of harassment, for example, in the case of a girl who reported that someone filmed her without permission at Cairo Airport, a severe penalty was imposed because the act of filming was accompanied by harassment, but in the case of an incident The Fifth Settlement and photographing a woman on the balcony of her house. Dealing with the perpetrator is different because the filming happened to a person inside his home and without his knowledge of any infringement on the sanctity of private life.”
Attacking the sanctity of a private life is a crime punishable by law in accordance with the text of Articles 309 bis and 309 bis “A” as they criminalize the assault on the freedom of private life by eavesdropping, recording conversations in private places, by phone, taking a personal picture in a private place, or Broadcast this material.
The company decided to withdraw the advertisement; As a result of the attack against it, and published a statement explaining its position, the statement read, “Citroen cares about the feelings of all the communities in which it operates and the company does not tolerate harassment in all its forms. We understand the negative interpretation of a scene that appeared in the latest TV commercial for the 4 Citroen in Egypt. ".
“The scene highlights the Connected cam feature, a compact, high-resolution camera designed to capture unique driving moments as well as improve the safety of the captain, which some considered an inappropriate sight, so we have taken the decision to withdraw this copy of the commercial from all Citroen social media platforms and offer Our sincere apologies to everyone who was upset by this scene."
While the English-language statement from the parent company in France included a different sentence from the Arabic statement: "We deeply regret and understand the negative interpretation of this part of the announcement."