After the outcry last year, international cheap chain LIDL did not dare to repeat its bold experiment and deliberately remove Crosses from Greek Orthodox Churches. This year, the LIDL removed the churches all together and move away from iconic Santorini scenery to some lower quality pictures of what it seems to be from Greece.
LIDL packaging August 2017
A windmill here, a roof-top there, a glass of ouzo, have been added on the packaging in spring 2018 in order to lock German consumers through the “Greek Week”.
The emblematic landscape of Santorini has been replaced with pictures that hint at something that resembles the island of Mykonos, although there would be just made in photoshop and wold-paint laboratory.
A European-wide outcry broke out last year, when a when a customer of Lidl in Belgium complained about the removal of the Cross from the Churches.
“I am shocked to see the Lidl shops that sell Greek products erase part of the Greek landscape and culture, ” the customer wrote to a Belgian TV channel, adding pictures of Before and After.
After the outcry, the Lidl group apologized saying their intention “has never been to shock, but to avoid the use of religious symbols on packaging to maintain neutrality in all religions.”
As KTG was among the first in English-speaking news to thoroughly report about the unacceptable issue, the impact was huge. We received feedback by KTG-readers that the crosses were remove not only in Belgium but also in several other countries.
The overwhelming majority of respondents to a poll we run in August 2017 spoke against the LIDL action to remove the Cross from the Churches.
