An Italian TV advert that depicts nuns eating crisps instead of altar bread while receiving holy communion has been accused of blasphemy by an outraged association of Catholic TV viewers.
The 30-second advert for Amica Chips – one of Italy’s top crisps brands – takes place in a monastery and opens with nuns preparing to receive holy communion. Their mother superior realises that the tabernacle is empty of hosts, and so fills it with crisps.
With Schubert’s Ave Maria playing in the background, the nuns file towards the altar and when the first is given the Eucharist from the priest, she widens her eyes and a crunching sound is heard. The ad, which is airing on Mediaset, Italy’s largest commercial broadcaster, and other private networks, ends with the mother superior finishing off the packet.
Lorenzo Marini Group, the company that created the commercial, said the campaign was aimed at a younger market and “with a strong British irony” and was intended to “express the irresistible crunchiness of Amica Chips” in a deliberately exaggerated and provocative way.
But the crisp-selling strategy didn’t go down well with Aiart, an association of Catholic TV viewers, which has called for the advert to be “immediately suspended”.
Giovanni Baggio, the association’s president, accused the crisp company of resorting to blasphemy in order to increase sales.
He said the commercial “offends the sensitivity of millions of practising Catholics” and was “outrageous” because it “trivialises the comparison between the potato chip and the consecrated particle”.
“The commercial shows a lack of respect and creativity,” he added in a statement. “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 criticised by the Catholic newspaper, Avvenire, which opened an editorial with “Christ has been reduced to a potato chip. Debased and vilified like two thousand years ago.”
Amica Chips did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by the Guardian, although its phone hold music was Ave Maria with the sound of crunching.