Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Freethinker

Home
Nonreligious
Bang the Elephant Beer blasted over Hindu goddess image

Bang the Elephant Beer blasted over Hindu goddess image

Last updated on: August 12, 2021 at 2:07 pm by Barry Duke

Bang the Elephant Beer blasted over Hindu goddess image 2021-08-12T14:07:48+02:00 Barry Duke

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image courtesy Bang the Elephant

A BREWING company in Nottingham, England stands accused of “trivialising the immensely venerated Hindu goddess Kali” by using her image on beer cans.

In a message posted on Facebook this week, Nigel Patton and Michael Shipman, of Bang the Elephant, said

Kali Yuga has been part of our core range of beers for three years now and there has been no comment or hint of offence to the Hindu Community previously, but obviously this is something that we do not take lightly, and we would like to go on record as saying that we wholeheartedly apologise for any offence we have caused.

However:

Kali Yuga will continue to be part of our core range, but we are more than happy to work with Mr Zed and the people of the Universal Society of Hinduism in terms of discussing possible alternatives or alterations to future artwork for the beer that would be deemed more ‘appropriate.’

Image via YouTube

The “Zed” referred to is the ever-vigilant US based Rajan Zed, above, President of Universal Society of Hinduism.

According to Nottinghamshire Live, Zed asked that company apologise for their use of the image on its East India Porter beer named Kali Yuga – a 5.9% beverage.

Zed said said:

Breweries should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege and ridiculing entire communities. It was deeply trivialising of the immensely venerated Hindu goddess Kali to be portrayed on a beer label.

Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.2b adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken frivolously.

Hindus were for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more. But faith was something sacred and attempts at trivialising it hurt the followers.

This is the second beer company that’s incurred Zed’s wrath this year. Norwegian company Holmentoppen Bryggerhus apologised and withdrew a beer label displaying an image of elephant god Lord Ganesh.

Images via YouTube and Lancashire Farm Dairies

Last August we reported that he forced Lancashire Farm Dairies to abandon yoga lesson in a pasture full of cows.

In 2017, Zed had a major run-in with Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) over an amusing commercial for lamb that featured Jesus and mythological deities including Lord Ganesh.

The controversy escalated politically when the Indian government complained about it. In a statement, the Indian High Commission said the MLA advert was “offensive” and:

Hurt the religious sentiments of the Indian community. The consulate general of India in Sydney has taken up the matter directly with MLA and urged them to withdraw the advertisement. A number of community associations have also registered their protest with (the) government of Australia and MLA.

However the Advertising Standards Bureau in Australia dismissed complaints filed by Hindu groups against the commercial, which can be seen here.

Ganesh, as portrayed in the lamb commercial. Image via YouTube

The advertising watchdog rejected the claims made by Hindu groups, saying it was “inclusive” and did not provide:

Any one character with less favourable or unfair treatment by virtue of being in the group.

As fury mounted, the ASB’s decision reversed, and the commercial was banned. The ASB’s independent review found a “substantial flaw” in the original decision to permit the ad. Specifically, by failing to consider the views expressed by complainants that the ad:

Ridiculed a revered feature of a prominent deity of the Hindu faith for no apparent purpose.

Based on these findings, the ASB Board determined that the ad did in fact breach section 2.1 of the Advertiser Code of Ethics which states:

Advertising or marketing communications shall not portray people or depict material in a way which discriminates against or vilifies a person or section of the community on account of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, sexual preference, religion, disability, mental illness or political belief.

MLA acknowledged the reversed decision but said it “respectfully disagrees” with it, noting the ad:

Was was conceived and intended to promote religious inclusiveness in a light hearted and humorous manner.

It added:

It was never the intention of MLA to discriminate against or vilify any religious group.

Please report any typos/errors to [email protected]

If you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee – and boy, do I get through a LOT of coffee keeping this site active – please click the link below.

I’d love a cup of coffee

News

Bang the Elephant Beer

Goddess Kali

Hinduism

Lancashire Farm Dairies

Meat and Livestock Australia

Rajan Zed

Yoga

Previous Post

August 10, 2021

Nigerian atheist charged with 'blasphemy' 17 months after his arrest

Next Post

August 11, 2021 An invitation to become a trustee of the Pink Triangle Trust

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Archive My Atheism News Opinion Reviews Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 March 2007 April 2006 February 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the king of Babylon when Daniel was in the lions’ den?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Belshazzar Darius Cyrus Nebuchadnezzar

Books by This Author Books by The Freethinker

See All Titles »