NYC Puerto Ricans Outraged At Island's Flag On Coors Light Cans In Celebration Of Puerto Rican Day Parade

The way Coors Light is choosing to celebrate New York City's Puerto Rican Day Parade is leaving a bitter taste in the community's collective mouth.

Boricuas slammed the beer company's decision to plaster the Puerto Rican flag on its cans boasting the words "official beer" as a way to highlight its sponsorship of the parade.

"It's a total disrespect to the Puerto Rican flag," Vincent Torres of Boricuas For A Positive Image told DNA Info. "The parade is turning into one big commercial where the Puerto Rican people are being pimped."

The MillerCoors company chose a particularly bad year to try out this advertising campaign, as the theme of this year's parade is "Salud -- Celebrating Your Health," the New York Observer reported.

The move has caused politicians, community organizers and activists to call on Coors to cease its distribution of the promotional beer can, promising protests if it does not comply.

"[The can is] an insult to our culture, history, and flag. We will not allow Coors to insult us," Lucky Rivera, also of Boricuas for a Positive Image, said.

The organization has already contacted Coors directly as well as Simon Bergson of Manhattan Beer Distributors ordering that it stop its production of the offensive can.

Community groups have also criticized the parade's leadership and accused its organizers of being careless when it comes down to portraying a positive message about the Puerto Rican community and instead putting its interest in profit, Fox News Latino reported.

"It seems like the leadership of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade just can't help themselves!" the National Institute of Latino Policy said in a statement. The group further noted: "The cry is going out on the need to hold the board of directors of the Parade accountable."

The parade will take place June 9 in Manhattan.

This is not the first time the beer manufacturer offended the Puerto Rican community. In 2011, it released a promotional campaign with the word "Emborícuate" -- or "become Puerto Rican" -- written on its cans. Latino groups criticized the campaign, noting that the word can be misread as "emborráchate," meaning "get drunk."