Shell is removing cardboard cut-outs of a female employee from all of its petrol stations across Malaysia after “distasteful and suggestive” images emerged of men groping the life-sized figures.
Pictures of men grabbing the chest and crotch of the cardboard cut-outs as well as kissing them went viral on social media, prompting the company to respond.
“We do not condone this disrespectful act, which is completely against the culture of Malaysians and Shell’s core values. We urge netizens [citizens of the internet] and members of the public to refrain from sharing these images further,” the company said in a statement.
“The [cardboard cut-outs] will be removed from all our sites with immediate effect.”
The Shell advert features a smiling employee wearing a red shirt and black headscarf with the company logo and name tag.
The female employee in the ads – identified in local media as 25-year-old Nor Shafila Khairusalleh - said the pictures show “extreme behavior” by the men.
“They may just be joking, but I feel humiliated because that is still myself although it is just an image,” she said.
One man involved has since apologised for his actions on his Instagram account, Malysia’s Straits Times reports. “I let excitement get the better of me,” he told the newspaper.
Multi-ethnic Malaysia has witnessed a rise of religious conservatism in recent years.
The country’s government caused widespread outrage last year after announcing it planned to introduce an Islamic penal code that will enforce amputations and stoning as punishments for some crimes.
Prime Minister Najib Razak’s coalition government unexpectedly submitted the bill that had been proposed by the Islamist group Parti Islam se-Malaysia.
