A German AIDS awareness advert showing an Adolf Hitler lookalike having sex was pulled from internet video-sharing site YouTube on Wednesday.

The advert, due to be screened in Germany on television and in cinemas from next week and still available at www.aids-is-a-mass-murderer.com, has been criticised for stigmatising people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

It shows blurred clips of a couple having sex but it is only at the end that the man is revealed as the wartime Nazi leader. A tag line then reads: "AIDS is a mass murderer."

A message on YouTube says that the clip has been removed "due to terms of use violation," without giving further details.

The company could not be reached for comment.

The campaign, which also features posters of Joseph Stalin and Saddam Hussein lookalikes in flagrante, was organised with AIDS awareness group Regenbogen e.V. ahead of World AIDS Day on 1 December.

Contacted by AFP, a spokesperson for Regenbogen declined to comment on the withdrawal of the video.

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