Coke Stops Release of Italian Jesus Movie

by Brian A Kennedy | April 10, 2007 at 04:11 am

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There's product placement and then there's product placement... the beverage giant stopped the release of the new Italian movie 7 km from Jerusalem this weekend, objecting to a scene showing Jesus drinking a can of the carbonated beverage.

According to local press reports, he offers the returned Christ a can of Coca-Cola and, seeing Jesus drinking the beverage, thinks: “What a testimonial!” Apparently Coca-Cola disagreed.

“The multinational’s Italian unit sent a legal letter forcing the elimination of the scene in which Jesus drinks the well-known beverage,” the producers said on the film’s Web site.

Italian media reported that the company felt that the use of its brand was unacceptable and could get the company a bad image. The director, Claudio Malaponti, said that if further talks were unsuccessful, the scene would indeed be cut.

“This recasting requires about 20 days and the hope is to be able to have in cinemas by the end of April,” Malaponti was quoted as saying on the Web site.