Egged campaign: do not forget to pay • Haredim are angry: anti-Semitic

Egged's new campaign raises ire of the ultra-Orthodox.

The campaign - titled 'bus ride is like a can at the kiosk, both of them must be paid for - was published last week in the Haredi press, which said: " Egged passengers, we care that you will travel safely and comfortably and that the experience will leave you with a good taste.

"Unfortunately, some travelers on the various lines complete the trip without having made the payment required at the beginning of the trip. It is important to remember: according to religious law and according to the law, travelling is like any object that one purchases. Therefore, you have to pay so as not to fail."

In the last 10 years there is an unwritten agreement between the Egged Company and those who flock to the Western Wall on Shabbos, and then travel back on Motzei Shabbos on the bus lines departing from the Western Wall, for free, providing they pay for the trip during the week. The service is for the ultra-Orthodox public, as a gesture of good on behalf of Egged. The agreement also exists on other lines. The company claims that an inspection revealed that many of the passengers forget to pay for the trip.

The advertising and haredi passengers reacted angrily to the campaign which allegedly presents the Orthodox as "thieves". The publicist Noham Barazsky, Manager of Eshkol Creative and a Board Member of Bolton potential, responded to his Facebook page and wrote: "I myself promise to pay from now on any bus ride on Egged and I asked my children to pay from today on, unlike Superbus. (Bottom line, anti-Semitic campaign and significantly anti-Orthodox). "

Even Perug browsers, a forum which deals with advertising, marketing and copywriting, disregarded the company, they claim, against the Haredim and the new campaign.
"Sure, who pays?" Wrote one browser cynically, "Haredim are racketeers – have you seen a Haredi who pays? Where? On the bus with five children and finishes a full ticket. Paying? Of course not. Just look for the Egged publications, suddenly they are all familiar with the Orthodox bulletin. I wonder why, the Orthodox does not pay, and then who needs them anyway?"

Another browser turned his criticism to the Haredi press. "Shame on the Haredi press, which agreed to introduce the advertisement. Not everything is money." Another surfer agreed and wrote: "Why have they posted it in the Haredi press??? Where is the comptroller? It is obviously targeted towards the ultra-Orthodox who are known as having difficulty understanding because they did not study the core curriculum, so one has to explain to them that travelling is like a toy and bread - concepts close to the poor world of the ultra-Orthodox.

Egged's response: "The campaign is designed to prevent the phenomenon of evasion of fees on public transport, a phenomenon discovered amongst all public transport users and is not directed primarily to the Haredi public. In addressing the observant public readers we used terms acceptable to the public.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!