Commercial featuring nuns taking potato chips for communion sparks outrage in Italy

Rome — A potato chip commercial that features nuns receiving the crispy snacks for communion is “blasphemy” and should be taken off the air, according to an Italian Catholic organization.

The spot by Amica Chips features doe-eyed young nuns inside a convent delighting that their communion wafer, known as the host, is actually a potato chip according to CNN.

A mother superior figure looks on as the nuns giggle, and it is revealed that it was her that substituted the hosts for potato chips in the box where communion wafers are kept, called a tabernacle.

The Catholic Church teaches the communion is the body and blood of Christ.

Giovanni Baggio, the head of AIART, a Catholic group that monitors Italian radio and television, called the ad “blasphemy.”

In a statement, Baggio said the 30-second commercial was “outrageous” and that it “offends the sensitivity of millions of practicing Catholics by trivializing the comparison between the potato chip and the consecrated object.”

Amid the backlash, Italy’s advertising standards authority, the IAP, announced an order for the commercial to be taken off air. Amica Chips has seven days to appeal the decision, during which time broadcasts will continue. The order does not apply to online placements.

Social media users also reacted in horror to the ad.

“This is blasphemy! Respect Our Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist!” wrote one Instagram user.

Another said: “You don’t play with God. To my Italian friends, I suggest a total boycott of this company.”

One user said Amica Chips had “offended all the Catholics of the world,” and another accused the company of “a very serious lack of respect.”

The company behind the commercial said the campaign was aimed at a younger market, with a strong British irony, and intended to be exaggerated and provocative.

When a reporter from the Guardian called Amica Chips, they say the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But when the reporter was put on hold, they say the music was Ave Maria with the sound of crunching.

The Institute of Advertising Self-Discipline, Italy’s private advertising standards authority, upheld the Catholic group’s appeal for immediate suspension of the commercial so it’s no longer airing.

A committee cited a rule that the commercials “must not offend moral, civil, and religious convictions.”