Benetton ad featuring "The Pope and Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb"
In 2009, fast food chain Burger King came up with a poster advertisement that showed a picture of Goddess Lakshmi sitting on a beef burger. The print ad released in Spain had a slogan that read ‘La merienda es sagrada’, meaning that the snack is so sacred that even the gods promote it. As a result of hurting the sentiments of the Hindu religion, Burger King not only had to apologise publicly but also withdraw its posters after a furore was raised against the ad.
While this was a classic example of touching upon the religious sensitivities, Cadbury earlier this year had to face the prospect of a ‘black consumer boycott’ with its racist ad that compared supermodel Naomi Campbell to a chocolate bar. The ad suggested ‘Move over Naomi – there is a new diva in town’. Targeted to promote Cadbury’s new chocolate bar, Bliss, the company later released a statement clarifying the ad as ‘a light-hearted take on the social pretensions of Cadbury Dairy Milk Bliss’. But finally, after facing a huge commotion, particularly from the black people, the ad was withdrawn.
Even the latest Benetton ‘Unhate’ campaign that used digitally altered pictures of politicians and social leaders in the name of promoting ‘global love’, aroused huge controversy. The ad was pulled out in less than an hour of its launch from the Benetton website, following a strong Vatican protest.
