Porsche has come under fire today over claims it has airbrushed out the famous Cristo Rei landmark in Lisbon in a video celebrating 60 years of the iconic 911 sports car.
The controversial video, which features luxury Porsche cars cruising along the mountains in Portugal, has been deleted from the manufacturer’s YouTube channel but remains on their website.
In the promotional clip, a father leaves his home and hands his son a toy version of the Porsche he then drives off in. He is then filmed driving along the stunning Serra da Arrábida coastline before he is overtaken by a woman who cranks the volume up in her own Porsche.
The woman’s red Porsche then speeds past Libson’s 25 de Abril Bridge – from which you can usually see the iconic Cristo Rei (Christ the King) statue overlooking the capital.
But the statue – which was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil – has been edited out, with Porsche opting just to show the 75ft concrete plinth that the monument stands tall on. Porsche refused to comment.
It comes after universities and other organisations have come under fire for dropping Christian term names and telling students not to say ‘Christian name’ or ‘surname’ because the terms are ‘offensive’.
In the video, the statue of Jesus Christ with his arms spread wide appears to have been edited out
The statue of Jesus can be seen in the background of this picture of the 25 de Abril bridge in Lisbon
Porsche released the promotional video which featured the new 9/11 S/T model (pictured) which costs £231,600
The giant statue dates back to the 1950s and was erected to express gratitude because the Portuguese survived the horrors of World War Two
The promotional video features the new Porsche 9/11 S/T model which costs £231,600 and can reach 186mph, although just 1,963 models have been produced. The 911 model has been the identity of the Porsche brand since 1963.
But the video has sparked fury online, with some calling for the ‘woke’ company to be boycotted, while others questioned why they filmed the clip from that angle if they were just going to edit out the statue.
One user, who reposted the video on Twitter, now called X, said: ‘Hey, @Porsche, why did you erase the statue of Jesus Christ from your video filmed in Lisbon?’
The tweet has been seen by more than two million people, as thousands of comments calling out Porsche flooded in.
One user tweeted: ‘Wow and that’s a beautiful statue to see in person. I drove on that bridge and it’s truly amazing. I’m marking Porsche off my list of future purchases. They should be ashamed!’
Another said: ‘That’s horrible. For what reason would it be taken out?’
A third added: ‘Because Porsche is woke’. And a fourth said: ‘That’s just ridiculous, to remove a iconic statue from a commercial.’
Questioning why Porsche had chosen to use that shot, another said: ‘They did not have to film this location/angle at all, so many alternative locations that would have taken nothing away from the advert.
The Porsche video has sparked fury online, with some calling for the ‘woke’ company to be boycotted
‘Yet they decided to include the statue/base so they could erase the most important part of it.’
The giant statue dates back to the 1950s and was erected to express gratitude because the Portuguese survived the horrors of World War 2 as the country was officially neutral.
It depicts Christ with his arms raised, blessing the city of Libson. Visitors can enjoy breathtaking views of the capital from the 75m high viewing platform.
The stunt by Porsche comes in the wake of other institutions coming under fire for Christian-related incidents.
In 2017, budget supermarket Lidl faced a backlash after airbushing Christian symbols from packaging to remain ‘religiously neutral’. The chain released a Greek food range with pictures of the famous Anastasis Church in Santorini, Greece.
But some customers spotted the packaging did not feature the Christian crosses that usually adorn the top of the church dome.
More recently, this year, the London School of Economics was accused of being ‘ashamed’ of Britain’s history and culture after dropping its Christian term names.
In the Porsche video, a father hands his son a toy model of the Porsche before getting in the real car
He then drives off and is overtaken by a woman in a red Porsche who speeds past the famous bridge in Lisbon – with no sign of the Jesus statue in the background
Porsche is celebrating 60 years of the 911 model but it’s promotional video has sparked a backlash
The institution, which is popular with overseas students, says it has changing the names to ‘better reflect the international nature of our community’.
From next year, Michaelmas will become ‘autumn term’, Christmas break will be ‘winter break’, whilst Lent Term will be ‘winter term’ and, in an echo of universities in the United States, Easter break will be ‘spring break’.
Toby Young, the general secretary of the Free Speech Union, told MailOnline at the time that the move was ‘another example’ of a British university being ‘ashamed of its links to the culture and history of Great Britain’.
Swansea University has also renamed its Michaelmas and Lent terms in favour of secular alternatives.
Conservative MP David Jones, the former secretary of state for Wales, accused the Welsh university of ‘airbrushing’ Christian heritage. He told The Telegraph in April: ‘I think that it’s pretty depressing that universities haven’t got more consideration for the Christian faith in this country.
‘There appears to be this secularisation which is at the same time sensitive to faiths other than Christianity. I can’t imagine that many other religions would be very happy if they were to be airbrushed out of university life and I don’t think that Christians should put up with it either.’
It comes six years after the National Trust was also accused of ‘airbrushing faith’ after it banished the word ‘Easter’ from its annual egg hunt.
It also emerged earlier this year that the University of Kent had been discouraging use of the phrase ‘Christian name’, claiming it is offensive to non-Christians.
The University of Kent has told students to stop using the term because it claims it only relates to Christians, instead suggesting students say ‘first name’ or ‘given name’.
The university also took against using the word ‘surname’ because it derives from ‘sire-name’ and is therefore deemed to be patriarchal.
The University of Brighton has also advised staff not to say ‘Christmas’ and instead call it the ‘winter closure period’.
In 2017, budget supermarket Lidl faced a backlash after airbushing Christian symbols from packaging to remain ‘religiously neutral’. The chain released a Greek food range with pictures of the famous Anastasis Church in Santorini, Greece. But some customers spotted the packaging did not feature the Christian crosses that usually adorn the top of the church dome
According to a nine-page guide on ‘inclusive language’ that emerged at the end of last year, Christmas is too ‘Christian-centric’.
Staff were also advised not to ask students ‘what is your Christian name?’ but instead say ‘what is your first name?’ or ‘what is your given name?’
More and more companies are being blasted for their woke modern-day advertising, including Costa Coffee last week.
The UK’s largest coffee chain was accused of glamourising ‘complex and dangerous surgery’ by covering a van with a cartoon image featuring mastectomy scars.
Costa defended its use of the image to promote ‘inclusivity and diversity’ but was branded ‘crass and irresponsible’ and ‘absolutely bonkers’ – and there were calls for a boycott of the company on social media.
In May, Adidas faced backlash over its use of a biologically male model to promote a women’s swimsuit in its ‘Pride 2023’ collection.
The sportswear giant provoked fury from fans who accused it of making a ‘mockery’ of women when it unveiled an advert for the £50 swimsuit which forms part of its campaign to ‘uphold inclusive values’.
One angry fan said the backlash was Adidas’ ‘Bud Light moment’, echoing the debacle the US beer brand faced after it launched an advertising campaign featuring a transgender social media influencer.
Sales of the beer plummeted following the backlash and its parent company Anheuser-Busch saw £2.4bn ($3bn) wiped from its market cap value after its paid partnership with Dylan Mulvaney was revealed at the beginning of April.
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