Outrage in Greece after Adidas ad displays drone shoe ‘kicking’ Acropolis

Greece is taking prison motion after government had been stuck unaware via the fifth-century BC Acropolis enjoying a celeb position in an Adidas promoting marketing campaign.

The choice to characteristic the western international’s enduring image of democracy for business functions in a hi-tech drone display has left Athens without a selection however to press fees, the rustic’s tradition minister mentioned.

“The legal procedure wasn’t followed,” Lina Mendoni instructed SKAI radio. “This very bad, extremely unpleasant image is as if the Adidas shoe is kicking the Acropolis, aesthetically that is.”

The tradition ministry had taken the step of submitting a lawsuit “against anyone and everyone responsible”.

“Essentially, we have an advertisement which aims at the commercial exploitation of the specific monuments,” she mentioned, insisting the video’s backdrop use of the Unesco international heritage web page violated strict regulations protective the country’s wealthy archaeological legacy.

By Saturday the Athens prosecutor’s administrative center had opened an investigation into the process in which the game store had got lets in to degree the drone display.

Both the ministry of tradition and the finance ministry have sought explanation from the Civil Aviation Authority, the frame in control of allotting aerial lets in consistent with EU laws.

The drone show, which reportedly happened past due on Thursday, was once introduced from the neo-classical premises of the Zappeion convention centre in central Athens. A state-appointed fee, overseen via the nationwide financial system ministry, manages occasions on the Zappeion.

“Here we have another monument, a newer monument, whose administration, if nothing else, should have sought approval from the ministry of culture before granting permission,” Mendoni, a classical archaeologist herself, added. “Here, too, we have a breach of archaeological law.”

As the photographs circulated by the use of social media and public outrage grew, Adidas hit again, announcing Greek regulation have been meticulously adopted. “All required permits were received and adhered to,” the German corporate mentioned in an e mail observation cited via Reuters on Friday. “No image of the Acropolis monument was used by Adidas for advertising or other purposes.”

In a country the place the traditional previous frequently weighs heavy, the political opposition have had a box day wondering the centre-right executive’s position within the furore.

“The Acropolis, a global symbol of culture and democracy, cannot be treated as a backdrop for commercial use,” mentioned the opposition Pasok birthday celebration, accusing the federal government of negligence. “Serious questions arise about the role and responsibility of the culture ministry.”

The leftwing Syriza birthday celebration deplored the commercial, describing it because the “commodification of Greece’s cultural heritage”.

“The image of a sports shoe ‘stepping’ on the Acropolis, created using a drone swarm for advertising purposes, constitutes an offensive commercialisation of the core of our cultural heritage,” it mentioned.

Management of the Acropolis, Greece’s maximum visited enchantment, is especially delicate on account of the acrimonious debate that has lengthy raged over artefacts, now not least the Parthenon sculptures, got rid of from the web page.

With part of the temple’s well-known frieze housed within the British Museum, Greek officers tread a fantastic line within the marketing campaign to win the treasures again.

Only weeks in the past, the Greek tradition ministry provoked outcry when it rejected a request from the rustic’s main recent director, the Oscar-winning Yorgos Lanthimos, to finish his newest film Bugonia at the monument.

The proposed scenes had been deemed “incompatible with the symbolism … and the values the Acropolis represents”. Social media this weekend was once replete with grievance from customers posting: “No to Yorgos Lanthimos. Yes to Adidas. No to art, yes to money.”