Italy's state-owned train firm accused of racism for using Indian family on advert promoting fourth-class seats

We read:

"Italy's national train company has been accused of racism after an advert promoting its new four-class system showed a family of Asian immigrants in the cheapest seats.

Trenitalia's advertising campaign for its high-speed Frecciarossa (Red Arrow) intercity trains spectacularly backfired because white Italians were used for each of the other classes.

The state-owned firm's online brochure was hastily removed and replaced with a more 'politically correct' version following a series of complaints.

Blogger Alessandro Gilioli highlighted what he described as 'xenophobic overtones' of the advert on the website of weekly L'Espresso.

He said: 'If the concept [of social segregation] wasn't clear enough, here is the image chose to publicise the lowest class: an Asian family, presumably immigrants. 'Curiously, all the clients in the Premium and Executive classes are white.

Source

Indians in Italy will almost certainly be recent immigrants and, as such, mostly poor. So what is wrong with depicting the poor as more likely to use the most economical service? Is reality incorrect?

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).