Viewers’ association accuses Amica Chips of resorting to blasphemy in order to increase sales
An Italian TV advert that depicts nuns eating
crisps instead of altar bread while receiving holy communion has been
accused of blasphemy by an outraged association of Catholic TV viewers.
The
30-second advert for Amica Chips – one of Italy’s top crisps brands –
takes place in a monastery and opens with nuns preparing to receive holy
communion. Their mother superior realises that the tabernacle is empty
of hosts, and so fills it with crisps.
With
Schubert’s Ave Maria playing in the background, the nuns file towards
the altar and when the first is given the Eucharist from the priest, she
widens her eyes and a crunching sound is heard. The ad, which is airing
on Mediaset, Italy’s largest commercial broadcaster, and other private
networks, ends with the mother superior finishing off the packet.
Lorenzo Marini Group, the company that created the
commercial, said the campaign was aimed at a younger market and “with a
strong British irony” and was intended to “express the irresistible
crunchiness of Amica Chips” in a deliberately exaggerated and
provocative way.
But the crisp-selling strategy
didn’t go down well with Aiart, an association of Catholic TV viewers,
which has called for the advert to be “immediately suspended”.
Giovanni Baggio, the association’s president, accused the crisp company of resorting to blasphemy in order to increase sales.
He said the commercial “offends the sensitivity of
millions of practising Catholics” and was “outrageous” because it
“trivialises the comparison between the potato chip and the consecrated
particle”.
“The commercial shows a lack of
respect and creativity,” he added in a statement. “It is a sign of an
inability to do marketing without resorting to symbols that have nothing
to do with consumption and crunchy food.”
The
ad was also criticised by the Catholic newspaper, Avvenire, which opened
an editorial with “Christ has been reduced to a potato chip. Debased
and vilified like two thousand years ago.”
Amica
Chips did not immediately respond to a request for comment when
contacted by the Guardian, although its phone hold music was Ave Maria
with the sound of crunching.
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