Further proof the world is going completely bonkers…..
Variety are reporting that Coca Cola have taken legal action against the producers of an Italian film set in present day Israel, where the character of Jesus quenches his thirst with a can of Coke in the desert.
Apparently they believe that Jesus is not worthy enough to drink their product.
The movie titled 7 Km da Gerusalemme (Seven Kilometers From Jerusalem) “centers around a Milanese ad exec having a midlife crisis who makes a pilgrimage to the Holy Land”.
From Variety….
Coca Cola in a letter complained to producers Graziano Prota and Angelo Sconda demanding that the scene be cut because it is likely to give Coca Cola a negative image and complaining that use of their brand was unauthorized.
“We are not interested in this kind of product placement,” a Coca Cola Italia spokeswoman said.
Sadly for the flick, the re-edits mean the release date has to be pushed back to the end of the April, meaning they miss out on the Easter audience they were aiming for.
How can Jesus drinking their product and enjoying it cause them to panic??
It’s free advertising for god’s sake. Who else is a more credible advertiser for your product than Jesus?
All you have done now is turn the whole thing into a negative bit of press for yourselves…. the company that didn’t want to be associated with Jesus.
Smart move guys, real smart.
source – variety
2 Comments
Talking about free advertising – just imagine the coverage both Cola and the movie is now getting thanks to articles like this all over the internet!
The “7 km from Jerusalem” affaire seems to be happly concluded and for the best:
The film directed by Claudio Malaponti, was in the past weeks the cause of a controversy with Coca-Cola because of a scene where Milan offers a can of Coca-Cola to Jesus Christ and it exclaims: “God, what a testimonial!”
NEWS
“The producers of the film, Graziano Prota and Angelo Sconda ,in order to respect and comply to the will of the Coca-Cola Corporation that had prevented the film directed from Claudio Malaponti to arrive on the screen by Easter Sunday(APRILthe 6th), they declare that on the 6th of april they had received a communication from Coca-Cola Italy in which they asserted they had realized that the rappresentation of their brand in the scene was a creative and artistic need of the director to use a universal symbol that was contemporary, adding moreover that it did not appear to be offensive and authorized to leave the Coca cola can in the movie so that the cinematographic work could be relized in its integral version”.
BUT IT WAS TOO LATE FOR FILM .
I do not understand WHY the film the Coca Cola Company did’nt approve at first and after agreed that it was ok.
It’s incredibile ? it has created a lot of pubblicity for Coca cola and for the film.
Well it is all good what ends good.
So please people go to see our movie on the 4th of may now that coca cola gave us the blessings..
Thank you COCA COLA
Thank you God