Christ The Redeemer in a soccer jersey provokes anger, possible lawsuits

Via abcnews.go.com

It's not the first (or the worst) example of Rio de Janeiro's monumental Christ The Redeemer statue being used in an ad campaign. But maybe the context of the World Cup has people particularly jumpy.

In one example, from Australia, involved a giant inflatable Jesus hovering over Melbourne, sporting a Team Australia soccer jersey with the logo of bookmaker Sportsbet and the hashtag #KEEPTHEFAITH.



While Australia is known for edgy advertising, this stunt upset Reverend Tim Costello, chair of the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce. He told the press, "One of the great statues in Rio is Jesus, and Brazil is a Catholic nation that takes its faith seriously and its football fanatically."

Indeed, Brazil's church was deeply offended. But by another campaign that had Jesus join Team, Italia:

Via NY Daily News

NY Daily News reports that The Brazilian Catholic Church  threatened to sue Italian broadcaster Rai after it showed the statue in an Italian jersey in its promotional video for its coverage of the World Cup.



While this upset the The Archdiocese of Rio on religious grounds, the issue could actually be one of intellectual property. The Archdiocese has image rights over the statue. After they threatened to sue Rai for $5.4 million, the network pulled the ad.

My own sensitivities are not too bruised by poking fun at The Jesus, since he's so embedded in secular western culture. But the intellectual property argument for this particular representation could be a real headache for cheeky advertisers.

UPDATE: Ad Critic Joe La Pompe informs me that it is a well-worn old idea!

Nina Agdal's breasts promote Lentburger

Video tip via Burger Business

While exploiting women's sexuality to sell fast food is nothing new for Carl's Jr./Hardee's, there are some things else worth mentioning in this one:



That's 2014 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model Nina Agdal and her Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Fish Sandwich.

Atlantic cod is a problematic fish. Once a staple of northern Atlantic nations, the cod population has collapsed on the North American side. The European population, with the exception of "the northeast Arctic, Iceland, Baltic and Celtic Sea" is considered overfished. Fortunately, this source quotes Hardee's (CJ's eastern counterpart) saying that their fish "comes from 100 percent sustainable fisheries in the Icelandic Exclusive Economic Zone."

That's a relief. But there's another interesting backstory to this promotion. Apparently, the reason you see so many fish burgers promoted in the late winter is because of Lent. From Ash Wednesday to Easter Eve, many pious Christians (especially Catholics) symbolically fast by giving up meat and other rich foods. Fish, which was not considered "meat" in the Middle Ages, became the go-to protein during this several-week abstinence.

Think this is an obscure motivation for a fast food marketing program? Here's a Time Magazine article from last year:

McDonald’s isn’t the only quick-serve chain that’s chosen the early part of the calendar year to launch a big fish initiative. This week, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s introduced the Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Fish Sandwich at all locations around the country. The company announced the new sandwich was aimed directly at consumers tweaking their diets during Lent, and also folks concerned about eating more healthfully in the new year:

“For almost half-a-century, whenever fast food customers wanted to get a fish sandwich during Lent, they had one choice: fried,” said Brad Haley, chief marketing officer for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. “With our new Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Fish Sandwich, we’ve changed all that. For the first time in the industry, our guests can get a premium-quality fish sandwich that tastes great and is lower in calories because we charbroil it just like we do our burgers.”

Piety, abstinence, sexual voyeurism, and dieting.  It all makes sense together. At least, in the United States it does.

Ontario Catholic schools play "holier than thou"

Update: The video has been removed from the official YouTube channel. The replacement embed is from the Globe and Mail.

Whenever I get into smug internet arguments with Americans about their religious craziness, I am always afraid they'll trot out an obvious problem with Canada's secular la la land. That problem is publicly-funded Catholic schools.

The reason for their existence is complex, and has to do with Canada's history as a state of compromises. In our early days, both the Anglican and the Roman Catholic churches received land and special rights — including separate education systems. This was partly because Canada was essentially a French colony conquered by the English, and religious, linguistic and legal accommodations had to be made to keep the place together. As well, Canada had large populations of Anglophone Catholics who regularly fought with their Protestant neighbours.

Education is under provincial jurisdiction in Canada, and in Ontario the "Protestant" school system evolved into a secular public system, while the Catholic one remained religious. This has caused continuing debate in Ontario, but the provincial parties tend to shy away from addressing the issue. It is interesting to note, however, that in the recent teacher labour disruptions the Catholic elementary school union was quick to accept a deal from the Premier while the public teacher's union fought long and hard. Another compromise for continued support?

I won't get into all the reasons why I believe that separate religious education needs to be ended in Ontario as soon as possible. In skipping over this, I hope I don't cause too much offence among friends who have graduated from the system, and have sent or are sending their children to it. I'm not judging you, I'm just pointing out that the separate system goes against the secular nature of our modern world, and having parallel boards of education is a massive waste of taxpayer money when the government tells us they can't afford the status quo.

This is an advertising blog, so obviously this short rant was inspired by an ad. Here it is:



There are lots of things that bother me about this video, but the worst thing about it is how it directly attacks the public system by claiming the religious values in Catholic schools make them "better."

Michael Barrett, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, is quoted in the Globe and Mail:

“There’s certainly always been a partnership that exists between the two boards, and I think that the message that is being sent certainly would indicate that the public school board somehow does not have a values-based education because it’s not religion-based. I find it hard to believe that the only way you can have a values-based education is indeed within that context.”

Me too. And I'm further annoyed that school systems are spending their funds to compete with each other for students. Yet another waste resulting from clinging to outdated educational separatism.

Disclosure: I am married to a public school teacher.

Terrifying demon child defends Christmas

 St. Mary's Church, a Catholic congregation in New Jersey, recently released this bizarre and confusing PSA about the "War on Christmas":



It was actually aired on Fox News and MSNBC. Its equally confusing YouTube description states, "Happiness can be expressed through a smile or a religion. Will negative people try controlling the way we smile next?"

The narrator, Jim Flood, sounds a little like Leonard Nimoy. And the girl, whose name is kept secret (thankfully) sounds like a banshee from the darkest depths of superstition.

Here's two of their other contributions to the weird video literature of religious fundamentalism:

Awkward Headline of the Day #1 #FdAdFriday

Newser has already edited in on their site, but fortunately Facebook has a longer memory.

F'd Ad Fridays: The Pope shills for cocaine wine

Via Cracked

19th century Pope Leo XIII was such a big fan of Mariani wine (a patent medicine made of Bordeaux and coca leaves) that he awarded a Vatican gold medal to the wine, and also appeared on a poster endorsing it.

Talk about high holiness...

"Good Catholics Use Condoms" ads blocked in Spain

Jezebel reports that this ad campaign, slated to run on Madrid's transit system during Catholic World Youth Day, was banned by either city authorities or by the media company (they're not yet sure which):

Catholics for Choice are a group who want to encourage sexual and reproductive choices — including open sexuality, contraception, abortion and IVF — within Catholicism.

While the Pope has taken a somewhat surprising harm reduction stance on AIDS and condom use, there is obviously a great deal of gap between CFC's goals and the Vatican's hard line on sexual issues.

Nonetheless, CFC have been at it since 1973, and continue to strive for a world "where all women and men are trusted to make moral decisions about their lives."

The Spanish language version follows.