Samsung ad on the Cathedral of Barcelona becomes divisive (PHOTOS)

A picture of a Samsung ad located at the Cathedral of Barcelona has led to many angry comments online.

The picture was posted to Reddit recently and it shows an ad for a Samsung Galaxy S23 located right near the top of the Cathedral of Barcelona.

The Reddit post was titled “Ads like this should be illegal.”

We reached out to the Reddit user who took the photo and he shared some of his thoughts, including other instances of this sort of advertising. We also reached out to Samsung, but we haven’t heard back.

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Principal work on the Cathedral was completed sometime in the 1400s. In recent years, it has welcomed a growing number of tourists. Interestingly, cell phones are banned from several areas of the Cathedral.

“I’ve been seeing things similar to this all over Europe and it’s very disappointing,” Reddit user fidel__cashflo told Daily Hive.

“There’s also an ad for Klarna on the Cathedral of Milano in Italy,” they said.

Another user commented on the post: “I was in Barcelona a few months ago and asked the walking guide about this. He said that Samsung was financing the restorations and this was a condition of the funding. Still an eye sore.”

Fidel__cashflo/Reddit

Based on photos submitted to Reddit in the past, it seems like Samsung has been advertising at this Cathedral for nearly a year. Even though many users call the ad an eyesore or “a little annoying,” some suggest it’s understandable due to Samsung’s restoration financing.

“I would like to see it say something like ‘restorations funded by Samsung’ instead of such an invasive ad but you gotta get the funding somewhere,” one user said.

“It’s definitely ugly, but I think the ends justify the means in this case to preserve history,” another user commented.

Interestingly, while many users are questioning the ethics of an ad like this, it seems to not be a very recent phenomenon, with someone pointing to a picture from the 1920s of the Eiffel Tower decorated with a giant Citroen ad.

Reddit

Considering Samsung is likely financing the restorations, do you think the ad is acceptable, or are the ethics of an ad like this a little murky? Let us know in the comments.