'Offensive': Pier Recruitment has come under fire after using boatloads of migrants (pictured) and photos of Jimmy Savile and Fred West as part of a tasteless online advertising campaignA recruitment agency has defended an ‘offensive’ advertising campaign which uses images depicting the holocaust, Jimmy Savile, Fred West and refugees.
The owner of Cardiff based Pier Recruitment Agency, Adam Brown, has defended the campaign, telling Wales Online that the Social Media campaign has brought him “three new customers”.
Part of the campaign included a picture of a packed refugee boat with the comment “Our workers will all get a individual seat on all methods of transport to the site. #treatyourworkerswithrespect”, with a similar post placed on Facebook.
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A post in August from the company included a picture from the Holocaust captioned with: “Unlike Hilter we don’t discriminate against any religion. If you are good at your job then you are good enough for us.”
Tasteless: A photograph of Holocaust victims being taken to a death camp was accompanied with the message ‘Unlike Hitler we don’t discriminate against any religion’
Other posts included a picture of Saddam Hussein being hanged and Jimmy Savile.
Users of social media websites Twitter and Facebook described the campaign as the ‘most offensive’ they had ever seen. The company also ‘joked’ about murderous dictator Saddam Hussein
Pier Recruitment used a picture of Jimmy Savile to advertise its criminal record background checking service
The company also mocked-up an image of Fred West digging a hole in a patio to promote landscape gardeners
M r Brown said: “We’ve had three new customers since we started this so people may assume its bad for business but the results speak for themselves.
“We’ve had a few complaints but the bottom line is that it’s about our profit line.
“Until the figures go in the wrong direction I don’t think there’s a need to change the adverts. They are working.”
Mr Brown defended the content when replying to a question what he would say to those who may have been negatively affected by the contents of the adverts saying: “Well I think it all depends on the view they take and I think it’s pretty narrow-minded people who take the viewpoint of not seeing it as a joke.”
The posts on social media have been criticised with comments saying that the posts where “completely offensive” and that they had “created the most offensive advertisement on Facebook”.
‘Appalled’: Social media users voiced their disgust at the adverts posted by Pier Recruitment Agency Ltd
The company have claimed that engagement on Facebook had increased by 52 per cent since the start of the campaign.
“After speaking to a number of professionals within the online advertising industry we took the decision to push forward a ‘shock advertising campaign’ which together which a number of eye-catching pictures which also have a serious point behind them plus there have been what are called ‘filler adverts’ within the campaign to help generate further interest.”
“There is no reason to review our campaign if the figures continue to go in the right direction.”
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