Airbnb has unveiled a new ad in advance of Tuesday’s State of the Union address, calling for the United States to ‘open doors, not build walls.’
The ad throws subtle jabs at President Donald Trump for his recent comments about ‘s***hole’ countries in the Third World.
‘We heard there’s been some expletive-filled interest in these beautiful destinations,’ the ad begins, showing scenes from Haiti, El Salvador and Africa.
‘We also know a few people who would love to show you around,’ the ad says. ‘Let’s open doors, not build walls.’
The ad closes with the message: ‘#weaccept.’
Airbnb is trolling President Donald Trump with an ad during the State of the Union address mocking him for his comment about ‘s***hole’ countries
The ad shows favorable views of Haiti, El Salvador and Africa in an attempt to drum up tourism interest in places where Airbnb has home-sharing listings
The company is building tourism relationships with the Haitian and Salvadoran governments, and Tuesday’s ad puts the nations’ best feet forward
Airbnb has most than 116,000 listings in those three regions. The company says its hosts there earned $170 million by sharing homes with travelers last year.
The company said Tuesday that it is establishing formal relationships with the Haitian and Salvadoran governments in order to help boost tourism.
The ad is running with a six-figure but on MSNBC, CNN, Fox, Univision, and Telemundo.
Trump faced near-universal condemnation for asking during an Oval Office meeting why the U.S. had to accept immigrants from the developing world.
The president faced broad condemnation for his comments, with Democrats saying it was a symptom of a presidency rice with racism.
‘Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?’ Trump said, according to two people who were briefed on the meeting and then leaked the comment to The Washington Post.
‘Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out,’ he told people in the meeting, according to CNN.
The ad refers to Trump’s ‘s***hole countries’ comment as ‘expletive filled interest’ in the Third World
‘S***HOLE COUNTRY’: shows people walking past a street damaged by Hurricane Matthew, in Jeremie, in western Haiti. Airbnb has listings there
TROUBLED: Members of the MS-13 gang, notorious for its brutality, detained in El Salvador, one of the many troubles the country is suffering from
NATO PARADISE: Trump told senators that instead of importing immigrants from the Third World, America should seek out people from countries like Norway, whose prime minister Erna Solberg he met Wednesday at the White House
Trump also said that instead of accepting Africans and Haitians, the U.S. should seek to assimilate people from countries like Norway.
Unlike Haiti and all the nations of Africa, Norway is both a NATO member and a stalwart U.S. ally.
CNN reported that the outburst came at the private Oval Office meeting as Democratic senator Dick Durbin outlined a bipartisan immigration deal put together by six senators which they took to Trump for backing.
Durbin, the Democratic senator who is minority whip, was outlining his proposal in which the visa lottery system, of which Trump has been a fierce critic, would be ended in return for ‘temporary protected status’, known as TPS, resuming for El Salvador and Haiti.
Trump has moved to end it for immigrants from those countries but as Durbin went through a list of countries which would gain TPS under the deal, he reached Haiti and ‘Trump asked why the US wants more people from Haiti and African countries’, CNN reported.
Wreckage from natural disasters is endemic in nations like Haiti (pictured) and El Salvador, while African refugees from nations like Rwanda and Sudan flee oppressive governments and long-lasting civil wars between warring tribes and sects
Haiti’s government said it ‘vehemently condemn[ed]’ Trump’s comments.
The country’s ambassador to the US told NBC that Trump’s remarks were ‘based on stereotypes’ and the president was either ‘misinformed’ or ‘miseducated.’
The White House issued a needle-threading statement on immigration policy, while not denying the story’s accuracy.
‘Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,’ deputy press secretary Raj Shah said in the statement. ‘The President will only accept an immigration deal that adequately addresses the visa lottery system and chain migration – two programs that hurt our economy and allow terrorists into our country.’