Wednesday, 10 April 2024

Potato crisps instead of wafers – advert causes trouble

Amica chips

Potato crisps instead of wafers in church services - a commercial is causing trouble in Italy. 

The Aiart viewers' association in Rome called for the advert to be withdrawn immediately on its website

It is a blasphemous contribution that "offends and insults the religious sensibilities of millions of practising Catholics by equating potato crisps with the altered Host in a trivialising way". 

The clip shows nuns in a convent receiving communion during a church service. 

However, because there were no communion wafers left, they are given potato crisps instead, which the nuns are happily surprised to see.

After one day, the clip was commented on more than 300 times on Instagram. These included positive reactions such as "Brilliant!" and negative ones such as "Shame on you!". 

The advert was first shown on television on Sunday evening, but in a modified form, as the Italian daily newspaper"Avvenire" reported on Tuesday. 

According to the advert, the nuns apparently do receive the wafers during the service, only one nun has withdrawn with a bag of crisps. 

According to "Avvenire", the Mediaset broadcasting group had requested the change.

When asked by the newspaper, the creative director of the campaign, Lorenzo Marini, explained that the adverts had been divided up differently depending on the target group. 

He quoted the well-known advertiser Bill Bernbach as saying: "Advertising is seduction and seduction is an art form."