NPR tells of an Italian movie, "Seven Kilometers from Jerusalem" that is being held up due to an issue Coca Cola has with the film. The theme of the movie is based upon a Milanese ad exec having a midlife crisis so he makes a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
In the desert, near the biblical Emmaus, the Italian ad man gives Jesus a ride on his Jeep, hands him a Coke, and, while Jesus is quenching his thirst, says: "My God, what a testimonial!"
The film was due to release on Good Friday, but Variety.com says the Coca Cola Company has taken legal action against producers and is asking that the scene get cut because Coca Cola thinks it will get a negative image and that the use of their brand was unauthorized. Or as it's worded (more amusingly) by NPR, "the soft-drink maker objects, saying Jesus is not an authorized representative of Coke."
The film makers are currently hoping to change Coca Cola's mind.
Hmm...Maybe Coke could go back to this old slogan from a Fifties Coco-Cola print campaign and incorporate The Cross into the visual.
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