'Anti-Semitic' Hanukkah Vodka Ad Pulled

A New York City billboard selling cheap vodka with the slogan "Christmas Quality, Hanukkah Pricing" was taken down after a flood of complaints, including one from the Anti-Defamation League. "In a crude and offensive way of trying to make a point that their vodka is high quality and inexpensive, the billboards evoke a Jewish holiday to imply something that is cheap and of lesser value when compared to the higher value of a Christian holiday," complained the ADL's regional director, saying the ad "reinforces anti-Semitic stereotypes."

The ad campaign's creator says he is Jewish himself and the billboard wasn't meant to offend anybody, but to compare the vodka to the "understated" holiday of Hanukkah. "As a Jew growing up, the only thing we could say was we had eight nights, and Christmas had only day, so we had eight days for the price of one," he tells CNN. "With our brand, our message is you can get more for less, eight nights versus one, and we don't need to wrap ourselves in fancy packaging." (More antisemitism stories.)