In April, fast food restaurant chain, Arby's, released an ad that demeans the ancient Greeks and outrageously insinuates that their inability to sell 2 gyros for $6 led to their extinction.
Here's the ad below. UPDATE: Ad removed from YouTube as of April 10, 2017
Supreme President, Andrew C. Zachariades responded with a letter to Arby's CEO Paul Brown requesting the company to pull the ad immediately and to issue an apology.
The letter reads:
Dear Mr. Brown
On behalf of the international membership of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (Order of AHEPA), which was founded in Atlanta in 1922 on the principles that undergirded its fight for civil rights and against discrimination, bigotry, and hatred, I write to request an immediate halt to the advertising placement of a 15-second Arby’s commercial titled, “Arby's: 2 for $6 Gyros | Mathematics.”
We strongly contend the commercial trivializes the contributions gifted to Western Civilization by the ancient Greeks, one of which is in Mathematics, and demeans the ancient Greeks. These contributions, which also include the arts, architecture, and sciences; and ideals, which include the notion of democracy and right of self-governance, inspired academicians, playwrights, and scientists; and revolutionaries, including our nation’s founding fathers, across centuries. To insinuate, as the commercial does, the ancient Greeks were led to become “extinct” because they did not have the logic, or could do the proper math, to sell two gyros for $6, is ludicrous and outrageous.
The ancient Greeks may have flourished 2,500 years ago. However, they are very much alive today because their contributions to Western Civilization in mathematics exist all around us—from the Pythagorean Theorem’s use to construct our homes and buildings and to aid in navigation; to NASA’s use of Pi in space exploration when operating Mars rovers such as Opportunity; to the obvious use of Euclidean geometry in art and architecture.
Therefore, although we appreciate the marketing of the gyro (its modern-day version credited to the late Mr. Chris Tomaras, an AHEPA Life Member), the manner in which the ancient Greeks are demeaned in the “Arby's: 2 for $6 Gyros | Mathematics” commercial is unacceptable. Mr. Brown, we call for Arby’s to pull the ad immediately and to issue an apology. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Andrew C. Zachariades
Supreme Presiden
UPDATE
April 10, 2017: Arby's as removed the YouTube video from their channel. They seem to have also re-uploaded their other two commercials promoting their gyro announcement. One video is most likely promoted since it already has almost 300k views, while the other is not. One missing video is the "Mathematics" video which has been taken down 5 days after our letter to Arby's CEO.
