PepsiCo. has reportedly pulled an online Doritos advertisement after it caused an uproar among offended Catholics, according to the Zagat restaurant and food news website.
The ad, titled "Feed Your Flock," was produced as an entry to the company's contest to determine which would be shown during the Super Bowl. It shows a pastor looking to lure more people to his dwindling congregation by offering Doritos and Pepsi Max instead of communion wafers and wine. He comes up with the idea after asking God for a sign.
The advertisement was deemed blasphemous by critics, who took to social media sites and online forums to rally for its removal.
"I just watched that ad and wish I wouldn't have! That is TERRIBLE and completely wrong!!" one commenter wrote on the CatholicVote.org web site.
"Pepsi and Doritos are already junk food for the body. Did they really want to make it junk food for the soul too?" wrote another.
Others, however, felt the outcry was an overreaction.
"Don't know what the fuss is about. It's pretty funny and clever and only a person with no sense of humor would see it as offensive," another commenter wrote on the same CatholicVote.org thread.
Dave Williams of Philadelphia's Media Wave Video Productions, who directed the ad, told Tampa's WTSP 10 Newsthat he was surprised by the controversy.
"Some people have gotten ahold of it and turned it into something it wasn't," he said.
The ad can no longer be found on the contest's Crash The Super Bowl web site, but can be viewed on YouTube here.
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Wency Leung