Coca-Cola banned from filming advert in Madrid

IN order to film a commercial in a municipal gymnasium in Madrid, the Coca-Cola company quite properly applied for formal permission from the council but it was refused in the second week of September because of the number of Spanish workers laid off by the company.

After 18 months, this is yet another step in the dispute between the drinks maker and the council after they decided to close a bottling plant near the city and turn it into a logistics centre.

The move is aimed “at defending implementation of a Supreme Court ruling,” the city councillor behind the decision, Pablo Carmona, was quoted as saying by El Pais newspaper.

In a statement the company, said it “regrets the situation and leaves the door open to continue collaborating with the authorities.”

The current council has only been in place since June and has a number of adherents from the ‘Indignado’ anti-austerity protest movement.

Coca-Cola had intended to dismiss 1,200 workers from the plant but a Spanish court last year ordered it to cancel the layoffs and reinstate more than 200 who had already been dismissed.

Just 85 have returned to work at the new logistics centre and a court is due to rule shortly on the fate of a further 130 workers.