The US alcohol firm Brown-Forman was landed in a controversy early last year following this contentious advertisement it ran in an Athens bar. The advertisement is showing Goddess Durga holding bottles of Southern Comfort in her eight arms. The advertisement quickly sparked off a series of protests from Hindu groups throughout Europe. The Hindu groups criticized the advertisement for being religiously offensive. The advertisement was certainly inflammatory and was religiously very sensitive. However, the firm immediately apologized to Hindus over the display and the advertisement was immediately withdrawn from the bar.
With intervention of the Greek Embassy in Delhi, the vice-president of communications at Brown-Forman, Philip J Lynch, had issued an apology letter for publishing the inappropriate use of the image of the Hindu Goddess Durga. The company further clarified that the violation took place as a result of human error as employees responsible for approving the promotion were not aware that the image being used was of a Hindu deity.
