Members of German party Patriotic
Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA) have
slammed Italian sweets maker Ferrero's decision to include two
foreign-born players among the images of the German national
team as children on the packages of Kinder chocolates in the
lead-up to the European soccer championships.
The anti-Islamic, xenophobic group has lashed out due to
the fact that Ghana-born Jérome Boateng and Turkish-origin Ilkay
Guendogan were among the 11 players chosen.
The group claims that the two players do not represent the
true spirit of the national team.
The Land Baden-Wuerrtemberg PEGIDA's Facebook page has been
used to spread messages of hate, criticizing the company's
decision and calling for a boycott of their products.
"You make me puke", "I won't buy them anymore" and "poor
Germany" were some of the comments posted, as well as one that
said: "are these the mug shots of future terrorists?".
The fact that the two packages are part of a special
edition for Euro 2016 is not mentioned.
Ferraro said in a statement on its Facebook page that it
"would like to expressly distance itself from all kinds of
xenophobia and discrimination" and that it would accept neither
even among its Facebook community.
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