How to lose clients and alienate people with one advertisement. This is what Moroccan language center “British Workshop” has done with a billboard that was supposed to encourage people to learn English.

“If You still don’t speak English, go kill yourself”, says the odd ad, showing a stick figure holding a gun to its head.

Many have dismissed the ad as a simple calls on people to commit suicide if they don’t speak English

“This add is shameful”, wrote Moroccan TV host Fayçal Tadlaoui while commenting on the announcement as he posted the pictue of the add on Facebook.

His anger seemed shared with other people who commented on his post.

“I totally agree. I told myself the same thing this morning”, said one comment.

“How come! They are explicitly asking people to commit suicide”, added another.

Elisabeth Myers, communications and branding expert and lawyer based in Marrakech and Washington, DC. downplayed the gravity of the ad, pointing out that it is simply an advertisement that people should not take seriously.

“This billboard certainly accomplished more perhaps than the language school intended, as it has everyone talking about it now,” she told Morocco World News.

“In this day and age of information overload, sometimes marketing has to go over the top to get people’s attention. The stark messaging in this ad does just that, and it’s powerful. It uses an idiom of Moroccan culture to say: Learn English or there is not much point in living.” She added, “It’s simply advertising. No one can take this seriously as a call for suicide.”

Source:MoroccoWorldNews