NYC's Puerto Rican Community Lashes Out At Coors Over Beer Logo
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York City's Puerto Rican community is furious over a logo of their island flag on a commemorative Coors Light beer can.
Coors is a sponsor of the city's annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. The image shows the flag draped over a stripped apple.
Councilman Fernando Cabrera called having the flag on a beer can "an absolute insult to all Puerto Ricans.''
"It is really distasteful and brackish to say the least," Cabrera told 1010 WINS. "Right now, this is not working in our community so our people are going to ban Coors Light and they are not going to purchase this product because we find this offensive."
Cabrera and other community organizers said it was a further insult because the parade's theme is "celebrating your health.''
"The message that Coors is putting forth is inconsistent with this year's parade," he said.
On her Facebook page, Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito said she and other Puerto Rican elected officials wrote to the National Puerto Rican Day Parade about the beer can.
"We write as proud Puerto Rican elected officials to express our disappointment with the continued commercialization and misrepresentation of our culture on the part of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade board and its sponsors," she wrote.
The National Puerto Rican Day Parade has denied the image was meant to represent the Puerto Rican flag or the parade's logo.
In a statement to the Daily News, a spokesman for the parade said the artwork was "created exclusively by Coors Light for this campaign that integrates elements for the parade's symbol."
Coors told the Daily News it demonstrated its official alliance and support of the organization.
The parade is set for June 9.
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