Russian food chain store apologises for advertising LGBT people

Russian healthy food chain VkusVill has apologized for its recent advertising campaign with the participation of LGBT people. The company posted a message with apologies on its official Facebook page. 

"We consider this publication our mistake, which became a manifestation of unprofessionalism of individual employees," the message said. 

Representatives of VkusVill noted that they consider it "our mission to give customers an opportunity to receive fresh and delicious food products on a daily basis, rather than to publish articles that reflect certain political or social views."

On June 30, a photo was published on the retailer's official website, in the section dedicated to customer stories. The photo was then posted on social media too. The picture showed a family of four women: a lesbian couple, one of the girls' sister and her mother. 

Many customers called to boycott the brand and promised to complain about the promotion of homosexuality to "competent authorities." VkusVill also said that company representatives and the people, who took part in the photoshoot for the campaign, received "thousands of threats."

This link was later deleted and replaced with an apology post. This caused another burst of public outrage on the Internet, but from a different side. Many people of liberal views called to boycott the food chain claiming that the retailer succumbed to "fascist pressure." Many wished the company to go bankrupt. 

Nothing has been reported about the reaction from the LGBT family that took part in the campaign. 

It is worthy of note that a similar scandal, with the participation of LGBT people, has recently sparked in Russia's resort city of Anapa. The scandal took place in a small hotel on the Black Sea coast. On July 1, it was said that a female hotel owner was outraged by her guests, who asked to have their room cleaned from sand on the floor. The hotel owner showered the guests with insults. The video of the scandal appeared on the Internet. Later, the woman apologized to residents of Anapa and the guests, attributing her behavior to fatigue. She later explained her behavior with her aversion to representatives of the LGBT community. The owner of the hotel said that she went into the room to clean up as the guests requested, and found two women kissing on the bed.

“As a citizen of the Russian Federation, I do not accept LGBT people,” she said on camera.