Melbourne man Amit Singh says a label on an alcoholic ginger beer produced in Australia is insulting to Indians and Hindus.
Mr Singh recently launched a petition on change.org calling for 4 Pines Brewing Company to change the label of its Brookvale Union Ginger Beer product.
"In the year 2013, it first came in to our notice that Sydney based '4 Pines Brewing Company' is selling a product [called] 'Brookvale Union Ginger Beer' with a very offensive and insensitive label on the beer bottle bearing a mix image of Hindu deities Ganesha and Laxmi," Mr Singh wrote in the petition.
"On approaching the brewery, they portrayed as if they understood the issue and promised to redesign the label going up to the extent of calling upon designer to help with redesigning."
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Ginger beer gods cause offence
Mr Singh told SBS that the company did change the label but he was not satisfied that the changes were enough.
"They simply removed a few religious symbols from the image," he said.
"They removed the cow from the image, and they also changed the head of Lord Ganesha and made it look more like the head of an elephant."
He said many members of the Indian community still found the label offensive but claimed the brewery refused to accept it still resembled an Indian god.
"There are a lot of people who worship these gods and this is just not acceptable," Mr Singh said.
"The company can find so many great designs for the label. It does not have to be a god or a goddess on the label, simple as that."
The product contained four per cent alcohol but Mr Singh said he would still have objected to it, even if it didn’t have alcohol in it.
SBS has contacted 4 Pines Brewing Company for comment.
Listen to the full interview with SBS Punjabi Radio:
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