Ukraine offended by Dutch Euro 2012 ad

A commercial, which warned Dutch women against letting their husbands and boyfriends travel to Ukraine for Euro 2012, has outraged the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

­The ‘Keep him home’ ad began airing on national television in the Netherlands in anticipation of this summer’s European football championships.

The video suggests it’s “dangerous” for Dutch men to go to Ukraine as there are too many beautiful ladies in the country.

"We find this commercial discriminating, fuelling ethnic hatred and unfair to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Aleksandr Dikusarov, Ukraine’s Foreing Ministry spokesman, is quoted by Vesti.ru as saying. “We’ll be vigorously pushing for such an ad to be removed from television.”

According to the official, “the Ukrainian Ambassador to the Netherlands has already met with representatives of the local football federation, who are sponsored by the company responsible for releasing the commercial.”

Dikusarov stressed that the Royal Dutch Football Association “strongly condemned” the ad and assured the Ambassador that they weren’t aware of its production. 

The Ukrainian women are renowned for their looks, with a recent survey from Traveller’s Digest calling the female residents of the capital Kiev the most beautiful on the planet.

The Netherlands were drawn in, the so-called ‘Group of Death’, at Euro 2012. They’ll hold their games against the strong teams Germany, Portugal and Denmark in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.