LAS VEGAS, Nevada, United States
A group of upset Hindus has urged the Brookvale Union Brewery in New South Wales, Australia, to apologize and withdraw its ginger beer carrying juxtaposed images of Hindu deities Ganesh and Lakshmi, calling it highly inappropriate.
The label of this ginger beer bottle juxtaposes images of Lord Ganesh’s face and Goddess Lakshmi’s body, besides displaying various other Hindu religious symbols.
Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism here, in a Nov. 8 statement said that inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts or symbols for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurts the devotees.
Zed stressed that Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi were highly revered in Hinduism and they were meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used in selling beer for “mercantile greed.”
According to Australian Hospitality Magazine, Brookvale Union Brewery has said that it was never their intention to offend devotees of the Hindu religion.
The company reiterated that the label was not designed with the intention to offend, and that they will now be looking at alternative design options.