Starbucks Creative Director apologizes for depicting Armenian women celebrating the Turkish state

Timothy Rose, creative director of a recently removed Starbucks ad depicting Armenian women celebrating the Turkish state, has posted a message on timroseltd.com apologizing for an image he acknowledges is “rightfully offensive to the Armenian community,”

Read Timothy’s full text:

“To all the Armenian community, I wish to apologize for the photograph taken for Starbucks from 2011. Neither I nor the photographer knew the dancers were Armenian. We were traveling around the world shooting photojournalistic images for the brand and captured this image during a festival in 2011 for Ataturk. There was no Photoshopping or models used. Once it came to my attention that this was rightfully offensive to the Armenian community’s, I took the image down. I am in full support of their plight and would never have knowingly supported any action that would hurt either them or cause unnecessary pain. My deepest apologies.”