One of the UK’s biggest travel firms is facing condemnation after advertising tours of former Holocaust death camps using smiley-face, love-heart and gift-wrap emojis.

Hays Travel, which has over 450 branches across the country, is also being criticised for selling trips to Auschwitz alongside other “popular attractions” including Disney theme parks, a Grand Canyon helicopter tour and a Dubai jeep safari.

It is the second time the company has faced concern over inappropriate icons on its Facebook advertisements for trips to the memorial site near Krakow, Poland. Similar complaints were made two years ago.

Hays travel screenshots 4

The emojis on a Hays Travel promotion for a trip to Auschwitz

Historian Rob Brooks complained the firm was continuing the “appalling practice”.
Britain’s advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority, said it took “this particular issue very seriously and recognise that this obviously has the potential to prompt concerns”.

It added that its rules, which govern all advertising content in the UK, made it clear ads “should not contain anything likely to cause harm or offence” and it would order companies to remove anything that it deemed inappropriate.

The Auschwitz Memorial and Museum said: “The use of emojis is standard in social media communication, yet people should be very careful when they use them in the context of the history of Auschwitz — a symbol of terror, genocide and the Holocaust.”

Hays Travel said: “We are very sorry to have caused offence especially after we tried to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

“As soon as this was brought to our attention we immediately removed these posts from Facebook.”