Coca-Cola REDEEMS Ban on Jesus

A few days ago, I posted THIS STORY about the fact that Coca-Cola blocked the Good Friday opening of the Italian film “Seven Kilometers From Jerusalem” because a the man in the film depicted as Jesus was drinking a can of Coke, and Coca-Cola felt this was bad publicity for them. I wrote to Coca-Cola, and barked at them for feeling like Jesus was “bad product placement”, and informed Coca-Cola that after 44 years of virtual daily use of their products, I would no longer be purchasing Coca-Cola products. LO AND BEHOLD…Coca-Cola RESPONDED TO ME! My faith believes in redemption, and Jesus was the master forgiver. It seems that Coca-Cola has had a change of heart…even though I still hear tones of “trying to be so ultimately politically correct” in their message…I think Coca-Cola has made a wise decision. There must have been A LOT OF US outraged by this. Huge corporations rarely send out a personal e-mail to those that complain. Congratulations Coca-Cola…you are officially off the “shit list”… Here’s the response I received from Coca-Cola… "Thank you for contacting The Coca-Cola Company. We appreciate your interest in the appearance of a Coca-Cola product in the Italian movie "7 km from Jerusalem". The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola Italia) wants to clarify that during initial contacts, a specialized agency hired by the film crew offered us the advertising opportunity of product placement in the movie. Out of respect for the religious subject matter, we chose to decline this commercial proposal. As soon as the producer and the director of the film contacted us in person on April 5, 2007, we met them the same day. It was then explained to us for the first time, that their aim was not to get product placement. On the contrary, they clarified that the director had a strong artistic desire to make a reference to the Coca-Cola brand in the movie as one of the universally appealing symbols of this age. Having understood the purely artistic desire and considering that the playful reference to the brand is not intended to be offensive to anyone, we immediately agreed in that meeting to the use of the Coca-Cola trademark. We wish the director and producer every success with their film. If you have additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact us again. Sherry Industry and Consumer Affairs The Coca-Cola Company"