Courtesy of Borcuas for a Positive Image.
Coors Light's latest marketing campaign has been shot with a silver bullet.
The company is under fire for a new ad campaign that features the Puerto Rican flag wrapped around their 20 oz Coors Light cans. The campaign is to celebrate the Puerto Rican Day Parade on June 9.
Local politicians and advocates are calling the ads "disrespectful" and "insulting."
"It's a total disrespect to the Puerto Rican flag," Vincent Torres told DNAinfo.com. Mr. Torres is an organizer for the East Harlem group Boricuas For A Positive Image.
Puerto Rican Americans aren't happy about the image of the flag being associated with an alcoholic beverage. Among latino populations, Puerto Ricans have the highest rate of alcoholic dependence. In addition, the theme of this year's parade is "Salud--Celebrating Your Health" ... a theme that doesn't exactly to correspond to alcohol use (even if it is of the light calorie variety).
This isn't the first time that MillerCoors has been in trouble with the Puerto Rican community either. In 2011, they printed had the word "Emborícuate," on Coors' cans, which means "become Puerto Rican" in Spanish. It caused a backlash in the community because the word can also interpreted as"Emborráchate," or to get drunk.
In addition to the community being angry with the brewing company, they are also disappointed in the leadership of the parade that agreed to the partnership. The National Institute for Latino Policy told DNAinfo the flag affair raises the issue of "the need for a broader leadership of the parade."
There has been no comment from the watery-beer on the criticisms.