It’s been less than two weeks since Porsche introduced the new 911 S/T, a special edition model created for purists, and the German automaker has also found itself in the middle of a controversy linked to the new road-focused sports car. Porsche came under severe criticism on social media when someone noticed that the Cristo Rei – a gigantic statue of Jesus Christ overlooking the city of Lisbon, Portugal – had been digitally removed from the backdrop of a nostalgic advertisement promoting the S/T. Quickly getting into damage control, Porsche issued an official apology and uploaded a new version of the ad the statue reinstated.
Roughly two-and-a-half minutes long, the ad depicts the evolution of the Porsche 911 to celebrate its 60th anniversary. Around 44 seconds into the old version of the video posted on the automaker’s website, a Porsche 911 could be spotted driving across the screen against the backdrop of the Tagus River and the suspension bridge. However, people noticed that the massive 92-foot “Santuário de Cristo Rei” statue was conspicuously missing from the clip while the 269-foot pedestal on which the statue stands on strangely still present. Perplexed fans were forced to ask what could be the possible reason behind the idea of digitally editing out such a recognizable monument from the film.
The complaint posted by Twitter user Alex B who noticed the omission quickly went viral and had already amassed over 5.8 million views. Porsche released a statement expressing remorse for the incident and acknowledging the alteration of the video, saying it was a mistake. The statement issued by the company read: “In a preliminary cut of a film produced in Europe, the Cristo Rei Statue was unintentionally omitted. We sincerely apologize and recognize the distress this has caused. The video in question has been removed.”
