Italian airline apologizes for ad featuring blackface actor playing Barack Obama

Italian Airline company Alitalia has apologized for an ad it created which features a non-black actor whose face was heavily made up to portray former U.S. president Barack Obama.

Al Jazeera reported the ad is part of a four-video advertising campaign intended to promote a new direct flight route from Rome to Washington D.C.

The Al Jazeera report says the actor who played Obama is an Italian national of Tunisian descent and his face was painted black.

A screenshot of a video by Alitalia which was intended to promote a new flight route between Rome and Washington D.C. [Screenshot from video published on Youtube account @ODN]

The video immediately drew backlash as many comments on Facebook and Youtube noted blackface was "universally considered a racist practice," according to the New York Times.

The New York Times also says the airline company initially defended the video saying the actor portraying Obama was not Caucasian and that "makeup was applied to highlight features."

Alitalia later issued a statement apologizing for the offense.

"Alitalia deeply apologises for the offense caused by the promotional video on our new Washington route. It has since been removed from all of our social media channels," said an email statement.

"For our Company, respect for everyone is mandatory, it was never our intention to hurt anyone and we will learn from what has happened."

Three other actors playing Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Donald Trump also featured in the ads with the hashtag #WhereIsWashington.