Homophobia is rampant in Hungary.
Coca-Cola Co.’s advertisements featuring heterosexual and same-gender couples were greeted by a swarm of homophobes in Hungary. The billboards touch on a topic that right-wing governments have intensely focused on.
The images star couples with the hashtag #loveislove, timed for Budapest’s week-long music event Sziget Festival. The theme of this years’ festival is “Love Revolution.”
News websites connected to the ruling Fidesz party, including PestiSracok and 888.hu, criticized the Coca-Cola campaign declaring it promotes same-gender love over heterosexuality. Fidesz legislator Istvan Boldog asked for a boycott of Coke products in a post on Facebook, while an anti-abortion group collected approximately 25,000 signatures for its petition to take down the billboards.
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Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s administration has been advocating for “illiberal values,” concentrated on the traditional family model. Mentioning a need to boost the country’s floundering demographics, authorities also maintained limitations on marriage and adoption by same-gender couples.”
Coca-Cola Maintains Its Support for Equality
Coca-Cola refused to yield, citing the company’s values of equality and diversity.
The billboards “do indeed try to convey a message,” Cola-Cola said in an emailed statement Monday. “Our belief that everyone has a right to love and that the feeling of love is the same for all.”
