Three men who tried to promote their bar on Facebook by uploading a fun picture of a Buddha wearing headphones get to spend the next two-and-a-half years locked in a Burmese prison, all thanks to their marketing plan.

The image was apparently uploaded to the bar's Facebook page in December as part of an advertisement for a "cheap drinks night."

The relatively innocuous picture outraged hard-line Buddhists, and the bar immediately pulled the ad, apologizing for any "ignorance" on its part. But it wasn't enough for local officials: three employees—the bar's owner, manager, and general manager—were convicted Tuesday on charges of denigrating Buddhism. The New York Times reports:

The image was posted in December on the Facebook page of the VGastro bar and restaurant in Yangon. After an outcry from hard-line Buddhist groups, the police arrested the restaurant's general manager, Philip Blackwood, 32, of New Zealand, along with the bar owner, U Tun Thurein, 40, and the manager, U Htut Ko Ko Lwin, 26. The three have been held in Insein prison in Yangon.

In addition to the two-year prison term for violating the religion act, the three were also sentenced to six months for illegally operating a bar after 10 p.m. Mr. Blackwood said after the verdict that the men had expected they would be convicted.

According to reports, all three men apologized but the judge still held they had "intentionally plotted to insult religious belief" with the advertisement.

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