Sunday Times 2
9/11 mastermind appears in Turkishcompany’s hair removal ad
A photo of the terrorist behind the 9/11 attacks on America has been used by a Turkish cosmetics company to advertise its hair removal products.
The hirsute former Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed featured in an advert for Epila hair removal products.
This picture of former Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed featured in an advert for Epila hair removal products. The firm said it didn't 'want to imply anything political' (Daily Mail)
In Turkish, the caption states: ‘Waiting won’t get rid of that hair.’
The company said they used the militant’s picture for ‘his hair, not terrorism’.
Mehmet Can Yildiz, a spokesperson for the firm told Hurriyet Daily News: ‘We didn’t know that he was a terrorist. This image is in popular use in Turkish memes on the internet.
‘The guy is quite hairy, so we thought his body was a good fit for our ad.’
The spokesperson added: ‘Several popular caps [humourously captioned images] were produced with his photo. Most were related to insomnia. We didn’t want to imply anything political.
‘We didn’t know that it could become an international story.’
The mastermind is currently being held in Guantanamo Bay and could face the death penalty if found guilty.
(Daily Mail, London)