German supermarket edits cross out of photo of Greek church

German supermarket chain Lidl is being criticized for editing a photo showing a Greek church by removing the Orthodox cross on top of it.

(Screen capture, YouTube)

The photograph is used in packaging of the Eridanous range of Greek products, and the company has responded by saying that they did this wishing to be "religiously neutral."
Lidl came under fire on its British Facebook page for the intervention, that removed the cross from the image of the Church of St. Anastasis, located on the island of Santorini.

"I'm highly disappointed in a company that is bending over to cater to specific people. Why are you hiding from the history? We are all to learn from history, removing it with Photoshop will cause the same mistakes of the past to be done over and over again," Daniel Novak wrote on Facebook.

Another comment, from Daisy Matthews, said:

"Why are you erasing the reality from a photo? If there were products from Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, or Muslim countries with their symbols depicted on there I wouldn't have a problem buying them. As a Christian I feel really hurt, discriminated against, upset and disappointed that you have done this, if it is the case I won't be shopping at your store anymore."

Shoppers in Belgium, but also in Germany also started reacting negatively, leaving Lidl with little choice but to react.

"We have been selling our highly popular Eridanous own-label range in Lidl stores across Europe for over ten years now, and in that time the design of the packaging has been through a number of updates. We are extremely sorry for any offense caused by the most recent artwork and would like to reassure our customers that this is not an intentional statement. In light of this we will ensure that all feedback is taken into consideration when redesigning future packaging," a British spokesperson for the company has been quoted as saying.

But, writes British daily the Independent - the Belgium-based RTL broadcaster received a slightly different explanation:

"We are avoiding the use of religious symbols because we do not wish to exclude any religious beliefs. We are a company that respects diversity and this is what explains the design of this packaging."

Later, RTL received anther statement from a Lidl spokesperson:

"Our intention has never been to shock. We avoid the use of religious symbols on our packaging to maintain neutrality in all religions. If it has been perceived differently, we apologize to those who may have been shocked.