Montreal (June 4th 2018) - Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) is troubled by a report from restaurant news website Eater that a Montreal meat shop used images of Adolf Hitler to promote their products. 

An online advertisement for Ils en Fument du Bon meat packages is alleged to have featured an edited image of Hitler and the words "Pimp My Reich." The package that the image promoted included pork products, though it was unclear whether that was intentional. 

It was quickly circulated on social media and garnered immediate criticism, with one popular Instagram account admonishing “This is a real thing a restaurant is doing? In 2018? Or any year after 1938?”

The campaign was quickly pulled from the shop's social media and owner Félipé St-Laurent issued an apology, which stressed that "neither IFB nor I endorse this advertisement." According to St-Laurent, the advertisement had been created by a student who had been doing social media work for the business, and that the student in question was no longer employed by them. A similar "Pimp My Reich" image from 2016 was discovered on the shop's Instagram; after multiple complaints, it was removed last week.

While it is a relief that immediate action was taken to remove the offending graphic, it remains a concern that a decision-maker in the business chose to publish it. Montreal is still home to a number of Holocaust survivors who may find such imagery deeply disturbing and traumatic. A formal apology to the city's Jewish community is required from Ils en Fument du Bon, in addition to the apology already offered by its owner.