Touching religion in Italy is not acceptable. An advertisement for the local brand of Amica chips was withdrawn on Tuesday April 9 from Italian television after numerous complaints made by viewers to the authorities in charge of television regulation.
In this short spot of around thirty seconds, we can see a nun responsible for preparing the mass and the ciborium, the container which contains the hosts. But amazement, the ciborium is empty. She then decides to open a packet of chips and pour them into the vase.
A ciborium filled with chips
The next scene then shows the mass, with the priest who grabs the ciborium to deliver the host to a line of nuns. He then gives her the first grab in the vase, which turns out to be filled… with chips.
Aiart, the Italian viewers' association, protested against this advertising spot, before the IAP, the Institute of Advertising Self-Discipline, the authority responsible for regulating advertising in Italy, was contacted.
After several days of controversy in the country, the IAP control commission “ordered the parties concerned to renounce the broadcast of this campaign, considering that it was contrary to article 10 – Moral, civil, religious convictions and dignity of the person - of the code of self-discipline for commercial communication, according to which
(advertising)
must not offend moral, civil and religious convictions,” notes the Ansa press agency.
A parallel which “takes the form of a mockery” for the authorities
In an explanatory note for its decision, the authority notes that the advertising establishes a parallel between the crisp, whose slogan is “the daily divine” and the host, a food which represents the body of Christ for Catholics.
According to the Iap, this “takes the form of mocking the deeper meaning of the sacrament of the Eucharist, with the result that believers and others may more than reasonably feel offended.” However, Italian law clearly provides that consumers “have the right not to be shaken in their deepest convictions by advertising campaigns (…) serving interests of a purely economic nature”.