Chile's Jewish community was outraged this week by the publication of an advert for cut-price alcohol that displays an offensive depiction of Jewish people.
Chilean alcohol distributor Arbol Verde published an advert for its discount booze featuring an image of a hook-nosed Jew with a hunchback in Monday’s edition of the Chilean national newspaper, ‘Las Últimas Noticias’.
The distasteful ad has raised a furor in the South American country's political system and its 18,000-strong Jewish community.
"It is not the written press of Nazi Germany in 1940, it is today's Chile publishing in [Las Últimas Noticias] antisemitic caricatures that in other countries would have generated wall-t-wall repudiation! What a shame," Chilean MP Gabriel Silber tweeted.
The leadership of the country's Jewish community issued a statement in which it called the ad an "unacceptable expression of antisemitism."
Israeli Ambassador to Chile Marina Rosenberg joined in condemning the ad on Twitter, saying the caricature was like "the ones used by the Nazis in very dark times of humanity" and added that the media has an "obligatory responsibility to reject racism and hate speech."
Arbol Verde rushed to deny outright the campaign had antisemitic underpinnings. The company said the caricature referred to the purchase of its drinks in cash and ruled out intent to harm the Jewish community.
The company's response only further enraged the Jewish community after it failed to acknowledge its fault and apologize.
The Israeli Embassy in Chile said that even if the company didn't mean harm with the advert, it did not take away from the severity of the incident.
"We hope that the appropriate measures will be taken so that such content will not be published again", the embassy's statement read.