Hindus protested a Missouri Brewery’s use of their deity Lord Ganesha’s image to promote its new IPA, prompting the company to apologize and remove it.
Springfield Brewing Company Offended Hindus
Springfield Brewing Company unveiled a new IPA beer with a label depicting Lord Ganesha holding a beer. Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, objected to the brewery’s use of the Hindu deity, saying that it was offensive to use his image to promote business or any other agenda.
“Feelings of Hindu devotees are hurt by trivialization of revered Hindu deities whom they worship,” Zed said, according to Springfield News-Leader.
The brewery discovered Zed’s objections via a google alert, immediately removed the artwork from their website and issued an apology.
“SBC sincerely apologizes to Rajan Zed and the Universal Society of Hinduism for the inappropriate usage of Lord Ganesha on our beer brand, Bombay Brown IPA,” the brewery said in a statement.
“We immediately removed the Bombay Brown artwork from our website, which was the only place this imagery resided,” the brewery added.
Hindus worship Lord Ganesha, who they believe to be the son of the deity Shiva, as a remover of obstacles and the god of wisdom, according to The Associated Press. They generally pray to and invoke him before undertaking any major task or project.
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This article, “Small Missouri Brewery Offends Hindu Group with Depiction of Lord Ganesha” was first published on Small Business Trends