Fox takes down provocative Bar Refaeli billboard
Haredi rabbis threatened to boycott the clothing company last week over 'poisoning the public environment'
By City Mouse Tags: Orthodox Jews Israel fashionFox clothing company decided Monday to replace a provocative billboard featuring model Bar Refaeli laying in bed with minimal clothing, after several consumer complaints.
The company said in a press release that "even though there were only several complaints, Fox decided to take them into account since the clothing company appeals to the general public and all sectors of society."
Fox invested hundreds of thousands of shekels in the giant billboard that was up in the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv.
The billboard that was taken down on Monday showed pictures of model Bar Refaeli and Israeli 'Survivor' reality star Noam Tor laying in bed side by side wearing minimal clothing.
Fox decided to replace the billboard with more modest pictures of the two stars, where Refaeli and Tor wear winter clothing.
Even though Fox's press release did not specify who made the complaints, Haredi rabbis have recently protested against the advertisement and called for a Haredi boycott of Fox clothing.
Rabbi Mordechai Bloi, chairman of the Haredi group Guardians of Sanctity and Education condemned the provocative billboard.
"Whether people wish to see this or not is a personal choice, and we don't tell people what to do in the privacy of their home. But they cannot be permitted to poison the public environment," Bloi said.
Fox has a big Haredi clientele and a large store in the religious community of Bnei Brak, and would have stood to lose from a boycott.
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wow. People need to chill.
Come on! All she is showing is one bare arm. Of course any of Bar's body parts is sizzling. Can't wait to see one of her toenails.
Decency is not just about sexual provocation - it is also about not rewarding spoiled brats for pissing on the system that kept her and her family safe.
There are billboards up and down Sunset Boulevard that would make a blind man see!
strange that a clothing company should have its models wear the clothes it's trying to sell. what will they think of next?
I'm not religious, but can still see quite clearly that its inappropriate to advertise garments with huge photos of unclothed models. Just show the Fox merchandise, its quite unnecessary to send raunchy messages to push the product. Jewish women used to be respected for their modesty in Galut, what has happened to Israeli cultural norms in our own country?
That would probably have upset a lot more people than having her just lie there.
Bar Rafaeli again? everytime i hear her name it is in a negative conotation. who she is running around with, why she wants to have fun, etc and on and on. the billboard looks pretty tame but she is a bad rep. for our country. now she is cavorting around turkey. she isn't all that hot.