Images of a man dressed as a human hand sanitizer bottle have surfaced amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The man, who is described as a "migrant worker" by Al-Jazeera, is said to work at Saudi Aramco and, a Saudi Arabian oil company. A real hand sanitizer dispenser is attached to the front of him, and he is also wearing a face mask and gloves. In one of the photos, another man—seemingly an Aramco employee—uses the hand sanitizer dispenser affixed to the worker’s costume. In another photo, the worker is standing in front of an elevator.
After the photos went viral, Aramco released a statement via Twitter (which was written in Arabic). According to the Middle East Eye, Aramco deemed the incident “abusive,” and highlighted the importance of hygiene during the coronavirus epidemic.
“The company has immediately stopped this act and has taken steps to prevent it from happening again,” the company wrote, per the Middle East Eye. “Aramco would like to express its strong dissatisfaction towards the behavior that intended to emphasize the importance of hygiene.” Meanwhile, the Independent reports that no one asked for approval of the costume beforehand.
Twitter user @HishamFageeh first tweeted the photos (above), captioning them, “Gulf class, a gift from Aramco,” per the Middle East Eye. People online called the costume “humiliating” and “disgusting," per the Independent.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is currently experiencing a hand sanitizer shortage, which New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has problematically decided to solve by using prison labor to create a New York-branded hand sanitizer called "NYS Clean," which will reportedly be offered for free.
