While the advertising firm says that the ad is to promote Russian culture, there are others that have a different point of view. According to prosecutors, 440 residents of Nizhny Novgorod in Russia have lodged this complaint against Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola has been accused of creating an advertisement that is deemed blasphemous with images of Orthodox churches and crosses. Some of the images were even placed upside down. However, the officials at Coca-Cola insist that the ads are focusing of promoting Russia’s culture.
The complaint was filed on December 11, according to Irina Monokhova who is speaking for the prosecutor’s office. Irina Monokhova has said that the prosecution is investigating if there was any legal case behind it.
Most of the protestors are believers of the Russian Orthodox Christian Church. They say that the ad by Coca-Cola insults their beliefs.
“Coca-Cola uses all these Orthodox symbols in a blasphemous way by placing images of Coca-Cola bottles inside the pictures,” according to Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency according to the complaint.
While the company is defending the marketing approach, an inverted cross is considered a symbol of Satanism.