An Italian TV ad that depicts a nun eating chips instead of altar bread during holy communion has outraged the Catholic community, being slammed as blasphemy.
The 30-second advert for Amica Chips is set in a monastery as a group of nuns prepares to receive holy communion. As the first steps up, a loud crunch rings through the chapel; the nuns all turn to see the Mother Superior crunching away on a packet of the chips as Ave Maria plays in the background.
The spot was created by the Lorenzo Marini Group, which claimed the deliberately exaggerated campaign was aimed at a younger audience “with a strong British irony”.
Aiart, an association of Catholic television viewers, has slammed the campaign and called for its immediate suspension.“The commercial shows a lack of respect and creativity,” said the association’s president, Giovanni Baggio. “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 widely criticised by the Catholic newspaper Avvenir, which claimed that “Christ has been reduced to a potato chip. Debased and vilified like two thousand years ago”.
