Modern Day Salvery? Saudi Aramco Under Fire for its 'Human Hand Sanitizer'

Amidst the coronavirus crisis, Saudi social media users widely shared images of a South Asian worker in the country's biggest oil producer Aramco dressed as a human hand sanitizer.

Translation: "The Gulf kind of class discrimination, gift by Aramco"

Online commentators perceived the content of the photos as racist and inhumane and called on officials in the company to stop such practices and apologize to the foreign worker.

Shortly after the photos went viral, the company, that's considered one of the biggest in the world, tweeted a condemnation of the practice and highlighted immediate action to stop it, explaining that it doesn't represent the company's values.

Translation: "Reference to the viral images of one of our colleagues, dressed as a hand sanitizer, in one of our faculties, Saudi Aramco would like to express extreme resentment of this outrageous act, which was only aimed at stressing the importance of sterilizing and was not officially approved by the authority in charge."

Translation: "The company has issued an immediate order to stop  this act and to take firm action that prevents its recurrence. The company asserts its firm response against acts that violate its deeply-rooted values of respect and conduct ethics."