Coca-Cola included a gay wedding in its new ad, but perhaps it got cold feet: The soda giant omitted the scene in a version for Ireland.
The "Reasons To Believe" spot seen in the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom (watch above) features feel-good moments, including two men posing for the cameras at their wedding. But the ad running in Ireland (watch below) replaced the snippet with the heterosexual nuptials of an interracial pair.
Some Twitter users found the edit nothing to celebrate.
"Not cool Coca-Cola Ireland!," Dublin Pride 2013 admonished. "Really Coca-Cola, Ireland is the only country in Europe that can't deal with pictures of a guy marriage? Really," Helena Stone wrote.
The comments section of Coca-Cola's YouTube postings of the ads were disabled.
A Coca-Cola representative told Irish outlet TheJournal.ie the decision to rework the ad was informed by consumer research.
"As you rightly say, the wedding images used in the ad for the UK and in other parts of Europe show two men getting married. The reason that this was changed for Ireland is that while civil partnership for gay people is legal, gay marriage currently is not," the rep said.
EILE Magazine, an LGBT journal, accused the company of pouring on the malarkey because in the U.K., where the unedited ad is airing, gay marriage is banned in Scotland and Northern Ireland. EILE also reported that the footage is actually of a civil union in Australia, where same-sex marriage is prohibited.
What do you think of the decision? Let us know in the comments below.
Compare the original ad above with the edited version below.