Chaldean Catholics said key to boycott of Miller over poster flap

Published: 2007-11-01

DETROIT (CNS) -- Chaldean Catholic Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim credited the support of Chaldean Catholics in metro Detroit for the success of a boycott of Miller Brewing Co. products that he said resulted in the company pledging to never again support events that insult and offend religious sensibilities. "We were a big factor in that," said Bishop Ibrahim, who heads the Southfield, Mich.-based Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle, the Chaldean Catholic diocese for the eastern half of the United States. In metropolitan Detroit, Chaldean Catholics own about 2,000 party stores -- about 90 percent of the total of the area's independent neighborhood convenience stores that sell food and other items, including alcoholic beverages. Bishop Ibrahim worked with Chaldean ethnic and business groups to boycott Miller products after the company's logo appeared on a poster for a Sept. 30 San Francisco street fair that mocked Leonardo da Vinci's painting of "The Last Supper" and had what critics described as a sadomasochistic theme. The New York-based Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and other Christian groups expressed outrage, and the league immediately called for a boycott of Miller until the company apologized for its association with the poster and the fair. On Oct. 31 the Catholic League said it was dropping the boycott after the company extended its Oct. 26 apology about the logo to acknowledge "disrespectful activities" at the fair.

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