Rome
CNN
—
A potato chip industrial that options nuns receiving the crispy snacks for communion is “blasphemy” and must be taken off the air, in keeping with an Italian Catholic group.
The spot by Amica Chips options doe-eyed younger nuns inside a convent delighting that their communion wafer, referred to as the host, is definitely a potato chip.
A mom superior determine appears to be like on because the nuns giggle, and it’s revealed that it was her that substituted the hosts for potato chips within the field the place communion wafers are stored, known as a tabernacle.
Catholics consider the communion wafer represents the physique and blood of Christ.
Giovanni Baggio, the top of AIART, a Catholic group that screens Italian radio and tv, known as the advert “blasphemy.”
In a press release, Baggio stated the 30-second industrial was “outrageous” and that it “offends the sensitivity of thousands and thousands of working towards Catholics by trivializing the comparability between the potato chip and the consecrated object.”
The Catholic newspaper Avvenire additionally criticized the advert in an editorial: “Christ has been decreased to a potato chip. Debased and vilified like 2,000 years in the past.”
Amid the backlash, Italy’s promoting requirements authority, the IAP, introduced an order for the industrial to be taken off air. Amica Chips has seven days to enchantment the choice, throughout which period broadcasts will proceed. The order doesn’t apply to on-line placements.
Social media customers additionally reacted in horror to the advert.
“That is blasphemy! Respect Our Lord Jesus within the Holy Eucharist!” wrote one Instagram user.
One other stated: “You don’t play with God. To my Italian pals, I counsel a complete boycott of this firm.”
One consumer stated Amica Chips had “offended all of the Catholics of the world,” and one other accused the corporate of “a really severe lack of respect.”
Amica Chips didn’t reply to a request for remark.