I know this is true because the children are back at school, and the Churches Advertising Network have just launched this year’s Christmas poster campaign…
They say “The cute brown-eyed boy doll in a blue baby-gro represents the baby Jesus, and plays on the idea of Christmas being a time when everyone is searching for that 'must-have' Christmas gift. It carries the slogan - 'GodBaby - He cries, He wees, He saves the world' “
ChurchAds.net Trustee, Mike Elms, a former advertising executive, said: "Research shows that 84% of people believe that 'Christmas should be called Christmas because we are still a Christian society' and yet society still seems set on airbrushing Christ out of His festivity. So, our campaign places a Christ-focussed message at the heart of the seasonal consumerism: on shopping centre posters; on commercial radio; in the pages of our daily newspapers. This year's poster features the 'Godbaby doll': this year's 'must-have' gift. It's a striking, contemporary and very simple way of communicating the nativity message that Christ, fully divine and fully human, came to us for our salvation.
I know what they are trying to say…but somehow I am not quite comfortable with this one. What do the rest of you think? [whether or not you would call yourself ‘Christian’]
No, I'm not comfortable either...I'm just imagining the field day the anti religion crew will have with this one.
ReplyDeleteJane x
I'm OK with it, although I think I've seen better campaigns in past years. And the allied radio adverts are really good (fashion show nativity). Have you heard them? A vicar friend put them on Facebook - that's how I know about them.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you uncomfortable with this one, Ang? And, for Jane, is it advertising faith that bothers you in general, or is it specific to this add? I really like discussing advertising (as you can see) and what better than adverts for something that actually matters?
No, I dont care for it either. I think it brings the concept of Christ down somehow.
ReplyDeleteI don't like it. To me the baby doll looks slightly scary, vaguely reminiscent of horror film characters. (Not that I've ever seen one!) A purely subjective reaction of course...
ReplyDeleteThanks Lesley - I see what you mean!
DeleteEnjoying your new blog too!
No , not liking it!
ReplyDeleteFloss, it's the ad ..I've seen some fab newspaper faith ads over the years.
ReplyDeleteJane x
But do you think that this is because we know Christ? As the adverts are aiming at people who probably see him as isolated, other-worldly and an outdated superstition, does this 'bringing down to earth' shock them into thinking about him properly?
ReplyDeleteI am all for reminding people that Christmas is all about Christ, but I am not sure that this poster is the way to go. I'm not keen on the picture, for one thing, but that is just a personal preference.
ReplyDeleteHere, I make sure that every Christmas card I sign has a religious picture on it, and find it harder and harder each year to find cards that I like and that fulfil my criteria. We attend several different services in the run up to Christmas as well as the usual Sunday morning services, and I am always keen that the family thinks about others at Christmas, so a donation to the Salvation Army usually happens at this time of year, as they do amazing social care work for lots of lonely and needy people. We restrict the number of presents that the children receive, tying it closely to the four that Jesus received at his birth (I started with three until the elder DD sussed out that the shepherds brought a lamb, so there were 4).
I remain convinced that the best advert is the Christians like all of us who live out their lives with Christ at the centre of it all - especially at Christmas - and the more you explain your traditions to others at that time, the better!
Gosh, sorry for waffling on!
Thanks for this comment Morgan. I make my own cards [in January] using the previous year's ones - and find that it is harder and harder to get enough with 'proper' nativity pictures.
DeleteI am intrigued by the 4 gifts at Christmas idea! Somebody last year quoted 'something to wear, something to read, something you want and something you need' as being the 4 ideal gifts.
But YES the best advert must be for us to live our lives with Jesus at the centre.
thanks again xx
Floss - I think it is the plastic doll that I find off putting! I agree that it is important to remind people that Jesus was a REAL baby, laid in a filthy cattle trough etc etc and I agree that we Christians can get over sensitive sometimes - but I just feel a little uneasy about this one.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes I feel strongly that we should think about who we are trying to reach - some of the twee wording of some church publicity makes me cringe! We will never reach the 50-shades-of-grey readers if our leaflets look like they were written by the copywriters of The People's Friend. [apologies to PF fanatics]
The Church Ad Agency has done some brilliant stuff. I'm just not 100% convinced by this years offering.
But thank you EVERYBODY for adding your comments!
I find it tacky.
ReplyDeleteL.x.
Fascinating! Thanks to everyone for their opinions, and for bothering to answer my questions. In France this kind of advertising is unthinkable (possibly illegal) so I won't be seeing it, anyway.
ReplyDeleteFor all that I am unsure about the ad, I am grateful for the freedom we have in the UK to advertise our faith!
ReplyDeleteBob and I were still discussing the ad at midnight last night - but he can add his own comments here himself if he wants to!
In addition to the concerns addressed by others, my problem with the baby is that he looks too Anglo-Saxon. Christ would have looked like much more Middle Eastern. Perhaps, more like our versions of today's Muslims. Gasp! Could we accept such a version of Christ?
ReplyDeleteI'm irked by the assumption that ' everyone is searching for that ' must-have' Christmas gift' - we are not all voracious consumers, Christian or not. I also wonder if Mike Elms, in his previous life as an advertising executive, was responsible for the adverts that we are bombarded with at Christmas time , and which tend to fuel the 'seasonal consumerism' of which he writes.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a little odd too.
ReplyDeleteThe image is quite disturbing and I don't think this poster is going to make anyone change their approach to Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the doll, and I very much like the must-have this Christmas idea. However as a mum of boys at height of their toilet humour phase, it's the "pee" bit that I dislike. The snigger factor undermines their impact, I think. It's a bit border-line with artists who use Christ as object/message, but are actually verging on the not good? I can't wait to see this year's John Lewis ad actually- we still watch last year's- all of us! And we don't even have any John Lewis in the frozen North!
ReplyDeleteI feel slightly uncomfortable with it - but maybe that's the fact that "baby dolls" have always been a turn off for me, even as a child! I think it's a clever idea, but I'm not sure that it will really do its job. There have, I think, been better Christmas campaigns.
ReplyDeleteI agree with comments by Susan, Lesley, Lynn, Angela and others. The doll is very tacky, very white and its squeaky clean appearance seems to sanatise the Biblical Nativity account completely.
ReplyDeleteI don't think my non-Christian friends and relations would be at all impressed by the ad or even understand what it was trying to achieve. .
Ann Johnston
Thanks for all the comments- I think this will continue to cause discussion for a while yet!
ReplyDelete