Lidl removing crosses again

The discount supermarket chain Lidl has once again caused an outrage by removing Christian symbols: an advertisement for a new store in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas shows the city's skyline with the crosses from church steeples removed. Although the company has since apologised and withdrawn the ad, Lithuanian media are beside themselves with anger.

Open/close all quotes
Delfi (LT) /

Symbolic invasion of Kaunas

Commenting in Delfi philosopher Nida Vasiliauskaitė is appalled that a supermarket chain has had the temerity to alter images of the city of Kaunas:

“The problem is not religions or the way they're depicted in public, nor is this about the real or purported impact of religious belief on society. It doesn't matter whether we're Christians or whether or not a cross has a sacred meaning for us. ... What is important is that we recognise that an international company has committed a symbolic act of aggression, that it is acting like a ruler. This is the conduct of an invader.”

15min (LT) /

A cruel image

At a time when Christians are being persecuted and murdered in many countries a PR campaign like Lidl's is entirely unacceptable, 15min rails:

“The photo has been removed from the website and the company has apologised but Lidl's image of Lithuania remains clear: there is no place for Christianity here. If the jihadists are killing off Christians through physical means Lidl is doing so by altering our consciousness so that Christian temples exist only as architectural legacies and nothing more.”