‘We wanted each ad to be relevant and valid for its own market’ – that is the statement Coca Cola officials have given for deleting a scene of gay-marriage from their global campaign ‘Reason to Believe’ ad aired in Ireland.
The campaign running in European markets including the Dutch, the Norwegian and even the English shows multiple images of happy moments in life, including a same-sex couple getting married.
However, the Irish version of the ad includes a beautiful inter-racial couple getting married, replacing the gay couple in the original ad. To be fair, inter-racial marriages are also one of society’s deep moral stigmas.
Coca-Cola took a rater bold step when it included the gay couple in any of its ad, in the first place. Therefore; deleting it for another country was bound to create controversy.
Thus, the gay-rights advocates now claim that the brand is backing out from its support to same-sex marriages, thus implying that Coke is “ashamed of the LGBT community”.
“As you rightly say, the wedding images used in the ad for the UK and in other parts of Europe show two men getting married. The reason that this was changed for Ireland is that while civil partnership for gay people is legal, gay marriage currently is not.”
Despite Coca Cola’s attempt to mellow down the situation, the LGBT community and gay rights activists are demanding answers as to why the gay marriage scene was removed.
Angry viewers took to social media yesterday seeking answers and saying,
“Coke has been behind some great advertising campaigns before. So they shouldn’t be marginalizing or alienating or discriminating against any person on the island.”
Coca Cola spokesperson comments that the wedding pictures used in both ads are changed because in Ireland the civil partnership for gay people is not legal, currently. That is the reason the couples are substituted, the LGBT community need not take this the wrong way.
Watch the original ad here:
Watch the Irish version here:
