The threats of Culture Minister Lina Mendoni , that – supposedly – the ministry will file a lawsuit against anyone responsible, in order to punish someone for the shameful spectacle of Adidas’ digital advertising (drone show), during which a huge sports shoe flew over the Acropolis , are an open communication game and a mockery of the Greek people .

• By Maria Panagiotou – Demokratia newspaper

This is because the minister herself changed the relevant law on the protection of antiquities in 2020 in such a way that every private company has “windows” of escape to exploit our archaeological monuments for commercial purposes.

At Zappeion

We mention -for the record- that on Thursday night many in Athens saw -either live or via internet playback- the huge digital advertisements of Adidas above the Acropolis. Subsequently, it became known that no permission had been granted for drone flights above the Acropolis, but space at the Zappeion Megaron . In fact, the relevant permission from Diavgia was also circulated on the internet, from which it appears that the company submitted a request on April 30 and the board of directors of the competent Olympic Legacies Committee decided unanimously to approve the allocation of 200 sq m. of outdoor space on the side of the Zappeion Megaron for a drone show on behalf of the company EssenceMediacom regarding the promotion of an Adidas Hellas product, in exchange for a rent of just 380 euros. Of course, as it turned out, the company’s main goal was to exploit the invaluable image of our greatest archaeological monument, namely the Acropolis.

The next day, the Ministry of Culture issued a statement, which stated that ” with regard to an advertisement by a sportswear company that allegedly depicts the Acropolis, it is announced that: The competent services of the Ministry of Culture will file a lawsuit within the day against anyone responsible for violating archaeological legislation .”

A little later, it became known that the head of the Athens First Instance Prosecutor’s Office, Aristides Koreas, ordered an urgent preliminary examination, in order to determine whether violations of the law on antiquities or other criminal acts have been committed.

The archaeological legislation, however, after Ms. Mendoni’s amendments, is certain to bring the prosecutor’s investigation to a dead end, since according to the orders of the Minister of Culture in 2020, the relevant permit is not necessary for commercial purposes.

Speaking yesterday on a radio station, the Minister of Culture stated that the board of directors of Zappeion should have requested the approval of the Ministry of Culture, and this is what makes the “procedure illegal ”. Apart from the fact that Ms. Mendoni chose to place the blame on the board of directors of Zappeion and not on the commercial company, her statement is considered hypocritical to say the least, since Ms. Mendoni herself changed the relevant legislation, that is, she amended – among other things – article 46 of law 3028/2022 in the so-called “Acropolis law” (law 4708/2020). In it, she removed restrictions that had been specifically included with the implementing ministerial decision signed by Myrsini Zorba in 2019, ignored (on purpose, as it turns out) new technologies and changed the scope of permits.

The layout

Specifically, Ms. Mendoni dramatically limited the purposes requiring licensing for the production of depictions and copies of monuments, leaving only that of profit, while cunningly removing indirect purposes (economic, commercial or other). The relevant provision, which – as we mentioned – concerns the production of depictions, also falls into this case, since the company can claim that the reproduction of the Acropolis with a huge digital shoe on top was not done for purposes aimed at profit, but for commercial reasons, which are no longer mentioned in the relevant legislation.

We would like to remind you that, in order to pass the relevant amendments, which made our monuments subject to exploitation and diminished their value, Ms. Mendoni had claimed at the time in Parliament that the amendments were necessary, because it is not possible to impose censorship even on works depicting children (!). Obviously, her argument was only childish.

However, in the same interview yesterday on a radio station, Ms. Mendoni clearly stated that ” although the drones did not fly over the Acropolis, the photo with the shoe above the monument was not accidental.” And that the company’s purpose was “to connect this particular advertisement with the Acropolis .” But does she also want to explain to us the provisions based on which the company will be punished?

Really, if the minister was furious with the image she saw, why didn’t she give the order for the prescribed stop signal, to stop any further use and reproduction of this vile and shameful image? The same law provides for the stop, in transitional article 73.

From Coca-Cola to… drones, a shoe is a road

“Democracy” has raised the issue in the past, since in essence it is no different from the Coca-Cola case or the three-dimensional, digital representations of our monuments that private companies are making within our archaeological sites.

Specifically, in the fall of 2019, “democracy” had brought to light the scandal of the illegal use of the Parthenon, the Hellenic Parliament and the Herodium with the “back” of the Minister of Culture in a Coca-Cola advertising campaign, through a series of documents . We then touched, respectively, on the change in legislation by Ms. Mendoni, in order not to face such… headaches. Also, in the fall of 2021, “democracy” revealed that various private companies were giving tourists tablets containing three-dimensional digital representations of the monuments . And this… hunting of the companies stopped after the relevant amendments by Ms. Mendoni.

All of the above are simply parts of the same… imaginary line.