A police department has been forced to remove a recruitment advert because it featured half-naked dancers.
The ad was promoting diversity in the New Orleans Police Department but was given the chop after just one hour of being published.
It was pulled down on Wednesday (February 15), a department spokesperson said, because of the negative response it received from the public.
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Speaking toNOLA.com, officer Reese Harper explained how the force: “Did not want anyone to be offended by the negative commentary.”
The 30-second clip was taken down from all of the department’s official social media channels.
Created by local director Crista Rock, it featured local characters. The video came with the caption: “Everywhere else is Cleveland.”
The $30,000 ad featured colourful Mardi Gras dancers in the streets of the city, its caption a reference to the famous Tennessee Williams quote: “America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland.”
The equivalent of £24,900, the expensive advert was funded by the New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation.
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Rock said: “We tried to do something progressive and awesome to get officers who would embrace our culture”.
The report from NOLA explains how the video featured: “Mardi Gras Indians, Big Freedia backup dancers, Baby Dolls, Rolling Elvi and Chewbacchus characters dancing around a Latina NOPD officer.”
The advert came amid an effort from the force to become more accessible and inclusive.
Rock added: “Rather than stand beside their officers who are LGBTQ, the NOPD pulled the ad and ran the other direction, which in my opinion, is the worst move they could ever have made.”
She added: “The immediate reactions were just hate – horrible, slanderous, makes-your-heart-sink type comments.”
23 billboards will remain up celebrating diversity in the force’s recruitment policy.
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