Chris Hemsworth faces backlash after promoting country with notorious human rights record

has been criticised over an ad promoting tourism to Abu Dhabi, despite the regions 'notorious' human rights record.

The Australian actor, Chris Hemsworth, has encountered backlash after he starred in an advertisement promoting Abu Dhabi as a tourist destination with his wife, in partnership with the United Emirates government. The minute-long advert features the Thor actor and his model wife, Else Pataky, pretending to film an intense action movie.

As he hands from the side of a building, Hemsworth tells Pataky he "could really use a vacation right now", to which she replies, "yeah, me too". The advert then goes back and forth between the fake move set and several clips of the couple enjoying various tourist attractions in Abu Dhabi, with their children. The activities include kayaking, surfing and even riding horses in the desert.

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Since it was released, fans have criticised the actor's appearance in the promotional advert and his failure to address the UAE's human right's issues. In a recent interview with Hemsworth said: "We live in Australia, and the long haul between there and Europe is daunting with three kids, so we started stopping over in Abu Dhabi and just fell in love with the place.

"It has become a destination and its own sort of holiday. They have all kinds of things for the kids, like the Yas Water World park, which was so much fun. Now our kids ask, ‘Can we stop in Abu Dhabi?’ It has a little bit of everything for them.”

Commenting on the Instagram post of the advert, one fan quipped: "You guys aren’t rich enough? Taking the money and ignoring the human rights violations…. Jeez." Another added: "A commercial for a state with few Human rights?"

According to a spokesperson for Amnesty International said it was concerned about human rights abuses across the United Arab Emirates, “particularly the government’s suppression of free speech, peaceful protest and dissent through practices of arbitrary arrest, detention and in some cases torture of political prisoners”.

But the 41-year-old actor is not the first celebrity to have received grief for promoting the gulf region of the Middle East. In 2023, was also called out for reportedly attending the grand opening of Atlantis The Royal Dubai hotel, and promoting the trip on her social media.

Arguably the most famous example — also had to defend himself after he signed 10-year deal to be an ambassador for Qatar, in line with the 2022 Fifa World Cup. A year later he spoke with The Telegraph about the partnership claiming he wanted to see the game grow, and that meant "going into territories it hasn’t been in before". He also confessed that he knew there would be questions and criticism, but that the power of football would override that.

He concluded by asserting that he was happy with his decision.

Human rights issues in Abu Dhabi, and the rest of the UAE, have been raised by several concerned international organisations. Persistent human rights issues include labour practices, freedom of expression, and women's and rights.

The Mirror has attempted to contact Christ Hemsworth.