Donald Trump sparks outrage by comparing Syrian refugee crisis to Skittles
The Donald Trump campaign has provoked uproar, yet again, with its latest campaign adverts comparing the Syrian refugee crisis to a bowl of Skittles.
Just hours after a bomb attack in Chelsea, Manhattan injured 29 people in Trump's home city of New York, the controversial tycoon's campaign team put out a shocking advert claiming refugees fleeing the Syrian crisis were a threat to Americans.
The advert, posted by Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, included the official campaign branding. It read:
If I had a bowl of skittles and I told you just three would kill you. Would you take a handful?
That's our Syrian refugee problem.
Trump Jr followed up the advert by calling to "end the politically correct agenda that doesn't put America first", immediately triggering outrage at the Republican presidential candidate's campaign team.
Of all the responses to the Trump advert, which included fury at the implication Syrian refugees were a danger to Americans and fury at the comparison between the children of war-torn countries and a poisoned sweet, perhaps the most appropriate came from the owner of Skittles.
In a statement issued amid the ongoing furore, Wrigley, who owns the Skittles brand, stated:
Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. We don't feel it's an appropriate analogy. We will respectfully refrain from further commentary as anything we say could be misinterpreted as marketing.
Hillary Clinton's press secretary, Nick Merrill, added: "This is disgusting."
The Trump campaign has built itself on provoking outrage by questioning what it sees as the conventional "politically correct" narrative. Just last weekend Donald Trump claimed it was the Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton who started the rumours about President Barack Obama's birthplace, a conspiracy called the "birther rumour" in America, when the two were vying for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination.
Clinton is still seen as the favourite to secure the keys to the White House on 8 November, although Donald Trump has been closing the gap in recent weeks, with his odds tumbling to just 2/1 in recent days, implying a 33 per cent chance of victory.