Pastor brings down naked billboard with 4 tweets

Via NY Post

No, this is not a billboard announcing the re-release of Spinal Tap's Smell The Glove. It's the space where Coca-Cola's Vitaminwater ad used to be.

Via allouteffort.com

This is the creative that used to be there. Pretty run-of-the-mill sexploitative advertising. ("XXX" is one of Vitaminwater's flavours, according to AdFreak.) But the giant version was posted across from Gallery Church, where a small group of Baptist Biblical literalists worship with Rev. Freddy Wyatt.

Wyatt tells the New York Post that he was "angered and brokenhearted" by the ad, because it "takes something that’s pure and precious and just strips it of its value.”

I assume he's talking about sex. Or maybe specifically female sexuality. I would agree that hypersexualized ads do diminish the awesomeness of real human intimacy, however not all sex is "pure and precious". Sometimes, it's dirty and cheap. (At least, I hear some people are into that.)

Anyway, Rev. Wyatt sent just sent four tweets to Vitaminwater and parent company Coca-Cola, and miraculously the company removed the ad the next day, unintentionally creating a great outdoor conceptual piece honouring the fact that is was Good Friday.

The Rev. was so thrilled that he served Vitaminwater at his next service, even though he couldn't believe heis voice could be so powerful. “Here’s four tweets from a random pastor," he said "and without even a conversation, they took it down.

Even though I think this kind of sex in advertising is unimaginative and somewhat demeaning, I find the knee-jerk censorship surprising too. Considering the money obviously spent on the execution and posting, this must have been a real panic for them. Was Coke afraid of having its brand dragged through the mud by a man of god on Easter weekend? No idea.

It couldn't have been Vitaminwater that did it. These are the same people who did the Jennifer Aniston "Sex Tape" hoax to promote Smartwater and had her pose completely nude in their print ads.

Or maybe they found Jesus. I don't know. 

There is a male version of the ad as well, by the way:

Via Jason in Hollywood

Would that have offended the Rev as much, do you think?

Thanks to David Gianatasio at AdFreak for the tip.

F'd Ad (Good) Fridays: What Would Jesus Shill?

via billboardom

The billboard above is a hack, obviously. But Jesus is often used and abused by lazy creatives as an easy way to shock the squares and get attention.

I do not believe in gods, but I do believe Jesus was real. He lived, he promoted a truly revolutionary philosophy of internal personal redemption in an oppressive regime, and as a result was brutally tortured and executed by them.

It's quite a story, even without the addition of coming back from the grave. A human story of vision, empathy, determination and almost unimaginable suffering that we can learn great lessons from. That's why I respect the man, even if I despise some of the hateful bullshit some of his so-called followers do in his name.

I also understand why people mock the divine Jesus that people hold up as an excuse to judge others (oh, the irony!). I just think the real guy on the cross deserves better than to be made the posthumous pitchman for...

Pizza. Via Ads of The World.

Clothing. Via Tumblr.

Shoes. Via Clarkyboy.

Online gambling. (Via Paddy Power.)

Condoms. Via Coloribus.

'70s jeans. Via Denimology.

Hot cross buns (from the pizzeria above). Via Gawker.

SUVs... and prejudice (must be fake). Via search 

Bread. Via Copyranter.

GPS systems. (Via The Inspiration Room)

Smartphones. (Via Photopol)

Jesus' "brand" has also been drafted into the service of cause marketing, promoting:

Vegetarianism. Via Free Republic.

Atheism. (Via Friendly Atheist.)

Road safety (as corporate social responsibility for Pernon). Via  the Inspiration Room)

Marriage equality. (Vianathanielclaiborne.com.)

Interestingly, the irreverent nature of Jesus ads has resulted in more progressive Christian churches using playful Christ images to promote discussion about their faith:

The United Church of Canada. Via the Inspiration Room.

St. Matthews-in-the-City (New Zealand). Via Buzzfeed.

Even Muslims got into the act:

Via Muslim Village

What do you think of Jesus being used as borrowed interest for advertising? Funny? Blasphemous? Edgy? Unimaginative?

Whatever your creed, I wish you all a safe and happy Easter full of peace, love and renewal.

FEMEN invite the women of Islam to get naked with them

FEMEN are in Paris, demonstrating for Muslim women around the world to demand sexual freedom and equal rights.

   

The demonstration, themed "Allah created me naked" includes slogans such as "Muslim women let's get naked", "Nudity is freedom", "I am a woman, not an object", "Naked war" and "Naked truth". (They also hold signs in Ukrainian, French and Arabic.)

While their hearts are all in the right place, the show of solidarity also reminds me of this cartoon:

The question being whether sexual freedom depends on sexual display. I'm sure the women of FEMEN would agree that the choice of dress or undress is every person's individual choice — as long as they are not being coerced or brainwashed.

On the other hand, women from more oppressive religious Muslim societies who choose the route of nude expression, such as Golshifteh Farahani or Aliaa Magda Elmahdy (who is name-checked in body paint), face disapproval, banishment, and even physical harm.

What do you think of this message and tactic?

You can see and read more about the demonstration (in Ukranian) at FEMEN's Livejournal.

More bad atheist advertising

Via Free Thought Blogs

Angry atheist advertising continues to make other unbelievers look bad. In this case, they started with a valid insight, that some of the worst things ever done to other people used the Bible as justification.

From Wikipedia:

"[Slavery] was established by decree of Almighty God...it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation...it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts ."
- Jefferson Davis, President, Confederate States of America

In a detailed, educated argument, you could easily use the slavery case against Biblical literalists, including the modern-day oppressors who use it to justify war, sexism and homophobia. But the other side could easily retort that Christians were behind abolition of slavery as well. The religion wasn't the cause of the evil, it was simply used as a justification for it.

This ad brings us a terrible reminder about a crime against humanity — the enslavement of millions of Africans and their descendants to build the agrarian economy in the United States (and elsewhere, including Canada). While it's good to never forget past evils, the image must be terribly hurtful to African Americans of today, and its powerful emotional impact is being co-opted by people who just want to bash religion.

There is really no need for evangelical atheism. It is not an alternative to religion, it is just a lack of it. As I've pointed out many times before, atheist groups do themselves no favours with nasty anti-religion ad campaigns. If anything, they just seem to validate the victim complex of some religious groups, like the fundamentalist Christians who claim they are victims of hate.

source

Look, guys, we secularists don't need your help. Some of us don't see religious people as deluded bumpkins, but as people with a different point of view. As long as they're not imposing unscientific views in government communications and school curricula why fight faith. It's been around for a long time. Instead, join people of all beliefs in fighting human rights abuses from any source.

Thanks to my brother David for the tip.

Canadian Parliament to face the "personhood" debate

Sharable ad from the "Not Yet Born" blog,
linked from Stephen Woodworth's official site.

If there's one issue Canada's majority Conservative government would rather not talk about, it's abortion. Not covered by any specific legislation since 1988, the deeply divisive medical procedure is something many Canadians, regardless of their personal beliefs, just don't feel comfortable talking about in public.

That may soon change, however, as Kitchener's Conservative MP, backbencher Stephen Woodworth, has convinced his party to let him have an hour of Parliament's time to discuss Motion 312, his request that "a special committee of the House be appointed and directed to review the declaration in Subsection 223(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada which states that a child becomes a human being only at the moment of complete birth and to answer the questions hereinafter set forth."

The Honourable Member has positioned himself as the Canadian champion of this cause, similar to the American anti-abortion Personhood movement.

In his own words:

“Canada’s 400 year old definition of human being says children are not human beings until the moment of complete birth”, he said.  “I’ve concluded that modern medical science will inform us that children are in reality human beings at some point before the moment of complete birth.  Canadians need to know there’s no human rights for children before complete birth.
...
A respectful dialogue to update a 400 year old definition of human being with the aid of twenty-first century information will benefit everyone. Whatever view one has about other issues, does it make medical sense in the twenty-first century to say that a child is not a human being until the moment of complete birth?  Members of Parliament have a duty not to accept any law that says some human beings are not human.”

The complication, of course, comes when we try to determine what makes a developing human a "person".

In the United States, the debate is a religious one:

"Personhood is a movement working to respect the God-given right to life by recognizing all human beings as persons who are 'created in the image of God' from the beginning of their biological development, without exceptions."

 This has resulted in attempts to overthrow the legality of abortion in some states, such as Mississippi (where the failed "personhood amendment"would have given full legal rights to a fertilized egg) and Ohio (where the "heartbeat bill" pending debate would ban abortions at the first recordable sign of cardiovascular activity around 9+ weeks).

Mr. Woodworth is proposing a "scientific" approach to determining what makes  human a "person" under the law. But such definitions will by their very nature be philosophical, since the definition must be clarified to be tested: does a heartbeat make us fully human? Reaction to outside stimulus? Observable brain activity? The ability to survive outside the womb? Or simply having been fertilized, and therefore having become genetically distinct from the mother?

This is a classic "slippery slope", an it slides in two opposite directions. On one end is the total ban on abortion from the moment of conception. On the other is the ability to terminally abort a healthy full-term baby. (Nobody really wants the latter, but it's what Mr. Woodworth is implying as the problem.)

In the end, it will come to the same argument about whose rights triumph: a self-aware pregnant woman's control over her own body versus the state's power to compel her to carry the developing human inside her to term. And it will be ugly.

The best Jesus bumper sticker ever

Okay, so the copy's too long (and font's too small) to read while tailgating this truck in Alaska, but the message is still pretty clever.

Via Buzzfeed.

American Atheists going after Muslims and Jews now #FdAdFriday

Animal NY reports that the Hebrew one will be erected in an Jewish area of Williamsburg (known for its Hasidic community) and the Arabic one will appear in a predominantly Muslim area of Paterson, New Jersey (home of the American Arab Forum).

It's as if American Atheists are daring both communities to see which one reacts first, and how.

I just think it's stupid. And I don't even believe in any god. But affronting people's deeply-held faith with fighting words like this is no way to open minds. It will just shut you out more forcefully.

Posthumous baptisms countered by posthumous gay "conversion"

Huffington Post reported today that a radical group of Mormons in the Dominican Republic have declared famous Holocaust victim Anne Frank, who was Jewish her whole short life, "baptized by proxy" into their church.

As bizarre and disrespectful as this practice is, it was only stopped by the mainstream Mormon church after an agreement reached with Jewish religious leaders in 1995, and church leaders continue to apologize for renegade baptisms.

That's not enough for one group of anti-Mormon internet pranksters, however. They have set up as site called "All Dead Mormons Are Now Gay"

The site specifically adds, "*Holocaust victims are not eligible for conversion."

The site mines a Mormon database to give you the name of a random deceased Mormon who you can "convert" to homosexuality. Considering that homosexuality is a sin in their religion, this is quite an awkward position to be in.

Personally, I don't think religious intolerance should be fought with religious intolerance. Plus, equating sexual orientation with religion makes it seem that both are by choice — which is exactly how people against gay rights tend to see things.

But hey, I found this link on Fark. So what can you expect?

The real St. Valentine

There he sits (his head, anyway) in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. All that we really know about him is that his feast day is today (February 14) and that he is dead. Stories about him being a priest martyred by Emperor Claudius for secretly marrying Christian couples is a bit of late Mediaeval and Renaissance embellishment, as is his association with love and romance (attributed to Chaucer).

So enjoy your cards, candies and sexy time while you may. You'll eventually be a dead person people make up stories about too.

Victoria's Secret angel falls... to Jesus

Way back in 2009, model Kylie Bisutti competed for, and won, a viewer voting contest to become the latest Victoria's Secret "angel".

Nineteen at the time, Ms. Bisutti went on to ladmag fame with shoots like this:



However, throughout her modelling career she was a married, self-described Christian.

Earlier this year, she quit her short turn as a lingerie model because she had an attack of conscience:

“My body should only be for my husband and it's just a sacred thing. I didn't really want to be that kind of role model for younger girls because I had a lot of younger Christian girls that were looking up to me and then thinking that it was okay for them to walk around and show their bodies in lingerie to guys. 

“It was pretty crazy because I finally achieved my biggest dream, the dream that I always wanted, but when I finally got it, it wasn't all that I thought it would be. Especially being married I just wanted to keep my marriage sacred because divorce rates now in America are pretty high, and I just want to do everything I can to keep my marriage special.”

Pic via Chris Schmitt

This wasn't the first time Ms. Bisutti felt a conflict between fashion and faith; she actually didn't do much work for VS after winning the original contest, eventually stating:

"For all of you that were looking for me in the Victorias Secret runway show this year, I wasn't in it. I have decided not to model lingerie Because I personally feel that I am not honoring God or my husband by doing it. My marriage is very important & with divorce rates rising I want to do everything I can to protect my marriage and be respectful to my husband. God graciously gave me this marriage and this life and my desire is to live a Godly faithful life, I don't however judge others for what they do. Everyone is convicted on different levels."

But she kept working.



I can't criticize a this woman for her desire to stop having herself objectified by the fashion industry, even if I don't think religion is the best reason to do so.

Hell, I wish her luck. Married at 19, and jaded by 21, she'll need it.

Iranian actress banished for boobies

Golshifteh Farahani is an Iranian actress who has appeared in Western movies with Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and Isabella Rossellini.

But most recently, she has become known as the latest woman from the Muslim world to be condemned for daring to bare her body for art.

Barely, that is.  She appeared partially nude in Jean-Baptiste Mondino's 'Corps et Âmes' (below) as well as in the French magazine Madame Le Figaro (above).




No big deal, right? Not in Iran.

From The Telegraph:

"The Paris-based actress left Iran last year in protest against restrictive Islamic codes that the Iranian cinema industry has to follow under Ahmadinejad's conservative cultural policies.

Now she said the government has sent a communication telling her not to travel back to her homeland.

"I was told by a Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guide official that Iran does not need any actors or artists. You may offer your artistic services somewhere else", Farahani said."

Following the Nude Photo Revolutionary scandal in Egypt,  I continue to wonder if these individual acts of protest are any indication of a simmering desire for sexual revolution among the women of the conservative Muslim world. If it is, I wish them well.

NZ church keeps up its irreverent Christian holiday ad tradition

St Matthews in the City Church in Auckland, NZ, is known for its controversial billboards. This Christmas, they did not disappoint:

Via stuff.co.nz and Copyranter

Here's a clearer image:

Via The Daily Mail

Well, how would you react if you were an engaged homeless virgin who just found out she was pregnant?


Vicar Glynn Cardy says the irreverent ad has a serious Christmas message:

"It's real. Christmas is real. It's about a real pregnancy, a real mother and a real child. It's about real anxiety, courage and hope. This billboard portrays Mary, Jesus' mother, looking at a home pregnancy test kit revealing that she is pregnant.   Regardless of any premonition, that discovery would have been shocking.  Mary was unmarried, young, and poor.  This pregnancy would shape her future.  She was certainly not the first woman in this situation or the last."

Screw the haters. I love these guys.

Other great St. Mathews billboards:

• This billboard will rise again
• God is an All-Blacks fan
• God is a hard act to follow
• Beware of God
• "Hell no, we're giving up pizza for Lent"
• Same-sex couples on Noah's Ark

Rick Perry's "Strong" ad just keeps giving and giving...

This one combines the "Brokeback Jacket" meme with the "Bad Lip Reading" one:



And in case you live in a rolled-up newspaper at the bottom of a lake, here's the original:



It's the most hated video on YouTube, apparently. So there's that, too.

Florida Family Association wishes American Muslims a Hateful Christmas

OMG TERRURISTS!

Jezebel writes that American home-improvement chain Lowes has pulled its advertising from TLC's reality show All-American Muslim after complaints from the Florida Family Association.

According to TLC's online preview:

"All-American Muslim follows the daily lives of five American Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan, one of the most established and largest concentrations of American Muslims in the country. Each episode offers an intimate look at customs and celebrations, as well as misconceptions, conflicts, and differences these families face outside and within their own community."

 In other words, it is offering a peek beyond the xenophobia, to portray the diverse people behind the faith.

This infuriates the Florida Family Association, who sent out an alert to all their members to e-mail TLC with complaints:

"The Learning Channel's new show All-American Muslim is propaganda clearly designed to counter legitimate and present-day concerns about many Muslims who are advancing Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia law.  The show profiles only Muslims that appear to be ordinary folks while excluding many Islamic believers whose agenda poses a clear and present danger to liberties and traditional values that the majority of Americans cherish."

My. Oh. My. Can't you just feel the love of Jesus Christ throbbing in their veins? The FFA's mission statement is to "educate people on what they can do to defend, protect and promote traditional, biblical values." (Apparently, "love thy neighbour" ain't one of these.)

Lowe's gave the lamest excuse ever for giving in to fundamentalist pressure:

"Individuals and groups have strong political and societal views on this topic, and this program became a lightning rod for many of those views. As a result we did pull our advertising on this program. We believe it is best to respectfully defer to communities, individuals and groups to discuss and consider such issues of importance."

Way to go, asshats. Spineless and callous is no way for a brand to go through life.

Predictably, some public figures are calling for a boycott of the cowardly brand, including Democratic Senator Ted Lieu, who is calling for a Christmas boycott of Lowe's. He says, "The show is about what it's like to be a Muslim in America, and it touches on the discrimination they sometimes face. And that kind of discrimination is exactly what's happening here with Lowe's."

LOTS of room for improvement in this brand.

Related: Buzzfeed's 25 Dumbest Comments On Lowe's Facebook Page About “All-American Muslim”