Liquor Maker Withdraws Durga Ads

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Louisville, Ky., USA (February 18, 2006): Alarmed by the protest

mail that had begun pouring over its telephone lines and into its e-

mailboxes, the makers of a popular brand of whiskey-flavored liqueur

earlier this week removed an offending window display in an Athens,

Greece, bar carrying the image of Goddess Durga sitting on a tiger

holding bottles of the beverage in all her eight hands.

 

"We made a terrible mistake," Brown-Forman's vice president of

corporate communications Phil Lynch told India-West Feb. 14 in a

telephone interview from the company's corporate headquarters in

Louisville, Ky. "We didn't realize it was the image of a Hindu

goddess."

 

Lynch asserted it was only a day earlier that his company found out

about the anger the display had triggered in Hindu communities in

Europe and India. "There must have been a lot of discussion about

this within the Hindu community," he said, asserting that "within

hours" after finding out about the anger it had generated, the

company removed the window display.

 

According to Bimal Krishna das, general secretary of the National

Council of Hindu Temples (United Kingdom), which had been in the

forefront of the protests, it was pressure from the Greek Embassy in

New Delhi earlier this week, and possibly the fear of "strong

reaction" from Hindus worldwide that forced Brown-Forman to remove

the display.

 

In an e-mail to India-West this week, Krishna das noted that while

the beverage makers were to be lauded for removing the offending

display "after being pressurized by the Greek government," it was

unfortunate that they did not listen to the requests made earlier by

Hindus and Sikhs.

 

Brown-Forman, a 136-year-old company, owns Southern Comfort as well

as several other brands of alcoholic beverages. Lynch said it was

the company's promotion agency that came up with the image of the

goddess as a promotional tool, which the company approved.

 

He said the controversial image was only displayed in Salon

Oriental, a bar in Athens, and nowhere else.

 

It is unclear whether recent worldwide protests by Muslims over

cartoons satirizing Prophet Mohammed that first appeared in a Danish

newspaper last September, and subsequently in publications in 40

other countries, had in any way influenced Brown-Forman's decision

to remove the window display.

 

Those cartoons have set off violent protests among Muslims the world

over, resulting in arson and bloodshed in some places.

 

The Goddess Durga holds an important place in Hindu worship. Her

name in Sanskrit means "she who is difficult to reach."

 

The Goddess, believed to be the embodiment of shakti, is worshipped

both in her benign form as Mother of the universe, as well as in her

fierce form as destroyer of the evil forces in it.

 

During the festival of Dussera, nine days are devoted to worshipping

her in her different aspects.

 

Lynch told India-West his company's marketing, advertising and

promotional policy prohibits the use of religious images in the

promotion of the company's alcoholic beverages.

 

"It was a human error, and a violation of our marketing code," Lynch

said, adding: "We'll do our best to make sure it doesn't happen

again by widening our review process."

 

This is not the first time Hindus have been forced to protest

depictions of their gods and goddesses on a variety of consumer

items made outside India.

 

Five years ago, an online Seattle store painted them on the toilet

seats they were selling. Another company put them on its shoes. A

Chicago bar had their waiters dress up as Hindu gods and serve their

customers alcohol. Aerosmith had an image of Krishna with women's

breasts on the jacket of a CD.

 

While previous protests stemmed from just Hindus, this time around

members of the Sikh faith in Athens joined forces with the Hindu

communities in their protest.

 

"We respect all faiths and that is why we are supporting the

Hindus," Paramjit Singh, a Sikh living in Athens, told India-West by

telephone, when called for a comment.

 

Krishna das noted that he was disappointed that the Indian Embassy

in Athens had ignored his organization's requests over the last

three months to take steps to have the window display removed.

 

"We request the Indian embassies to be much more forthcoming in

providing assistance to the Indian communities settled outside

India," Krishna das said, adding: "We also request the world-wide

Hindu community to formulate a concerted strategy to make sure that

no further abuse of Hinduism takes place anywhere in the world."

 

SOURCE: India-West. Whiskey Maker Removes Offensive Display After

Protests By VIJI SUNDARAM, India-West Staff Reporter

URL: http://www.indiawest.com/view.php?

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