Phones4u “mocking” Jesus Christ ads banned
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Two Phones4u national press ads featuring a cartoon image of a grinning Jesus Christ giving a thumbs-up sign has been banned for being disrespectful to the Christian faith.
Members of the public said the ads, which also featured a Sacred Heart across Jesus Christ’s chest and a headline with text “Miraculous deals on Samsung AndroidTM phones”, were offensive and it was disrespectful to the Christian faith to run them during Easter.
The Advertising Standards Association ruling has banned the ads, adding that the images “gave the impression that they were mocking and belittling core Christian values”.
Phones4u says the ads were not intended to be disrespectful of the Christian faith rather but meant to be a “light-hearted, positive and contemporary image of Christianity relevant to the Easter weekend”.
The company, which received some complaints directly, withdrew the ads as soon as the negative reaction became apparent. Phones4u says it has no plans to the run the ads again.
Readers' comments (6)
Billy Reynolds | Wed, 7 Sep 2011 4:43 am
Erm....That's the Buddy Christ from Kevin Smith's Dogma film : http://www.google.co.uk/#q=Buddy+Christ&hl=en&prmd=ivnso&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&ei=RehmTt-fAYiv8gPTrunMCw&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=image&resnum=3&sqi=2&ved=0CDsQzAMwAg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=8d62c02e854e292d&biw=1366&bih=659
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Laura | Wed, 7 Sep 2011 12:30 pm
If Christians find this offensive then they need a sense of humour I feel!
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MaryLou Costa | Wed, 7 Sep 2011 4:36 pm
This is in very poor taste; if it was making light of any other figurehead from another religion there would be an uproar! I'm no devout Christian and I can see the funny side but you have to appreciate that to some people this is a very sensitive thing and when an ad makes fun of anything you have to anticipate a backlash from your target.
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David Gallacher | Wed, 7 Sep 2011 6:39 pm
That's the Buddy Christ, created for the film Dogma by Kevin Smith, a Christian.
Lighten up.
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Gideon Peters | Wed, 7 Sep 2011 10:58 pm
I wonder if Laura would have made the same comment if the the subject had been Mohammed instead of Jesus Christ?
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Anonymous | Sun, 11 Sep 2011 9:12 am
Tired of Religion? Try Jesus.
im a Christian - and i think its a waste of time to beat up phones4u
Jesus was a common man, if anything he'd probably have gotten a kick out of it (the spirit of its appearing randomly on such a site) - downplaying 'any major' significance
for religious ppl - i suppose its expected.
for Christians who KNOW Jesus...storm.teacup.
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