A popular Estonian meat producer has sparked outrage among the country’s Russian-speaking minority over an online ad they claim stokes ethnic tensions. The ad, featuring two men wearing Ukrainian flags grilling meat on a beach with smoke rising on the horizon, has garnered strong reactions from internet users. The controversy centers on the Estonian word for onion, which is a local derogatory slang term for Russians and Russian-speaking Estonians. The social media ad, for barbecue pork with caramelized onion, contains the slogan: "The right grill will turn a bitter onion sweet," to the chagrin of some Estonians. By Friday morning, Rannarootsi's original Facebook post had attracted almost 16,000 reactions and 4,000 comments. Those comments were mixed, however. “Sell meat, not ethnic hatred," one user wrote. “Any company that uses references to ethnic hostility and war in its advertising has lost all credibility," another posted, while others slammed the marketing ploy as “shameful” and “disgusting.” Others were more supportive of the meat producer, however. "Glad to see the sibulad [onions] burn up over this!" one wrote. "Tomorrow I'll be filling up my cart with Rannarootsi products." "Don't worry, we'll keep buying your products," another posted. Rannarootsi denied accusations of anti-Russian messaging with its CEO telling national broadcaster ERR he was not even aware of the word’s double meaning. “I'm more aware of that now," Karmo Aksel said. "When we came up with that post, we had only that product in mind." But he also said the company would not be withdrawing the ad. "The post has already taken on a life of its own," he said. "What would be the point of deleting it now?"
