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God endorses Moe's Southwest Grill
Remember those "God Speaks" billboards that turned up nationwide from 1999 to 2001? They had messages like "Let's meet at my house Sunday before the game" and "We need to talk," and were supposedly signed by God.

Actually, they were the product of an anonymous donor, the Smith Agency, and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. And the story didn't end so well: The Smith Agency went under, as (apparently) did its parent company, and the whole "God Speaks" affair became embroiled in a lawsuit when Smith Agency chairman Andrew D. Smith and Charles Robb, and decided to turn the campaign into a book, which quickly went out of print. A research paper presented in August by scholars from Michigan State University's Department of Advertising wonders if the campaign really worked at all.

Apparently someone thought it was memorable. Down in Orlando, a new billboard has popped up. It's still signed by God, but the text is, "Welcome to Moe's," and it's an ad for Moe's Southwest Grill. Only Moe's corporate officials say they never approved the ad, and ordered the local restaurant to take it down.

Local pastor Enric Richard complained to television station WKMG, "You just don't use God's name that way. It should not be taken lightly and casually. It is sacred. There are consequences to doing something like this. Judgment can come on those who use the Lord's name in such a vain fashion."

I sense a trend article coming, or perhaps even a book: Examine the difference between religious advertising and advertising that uses religious imagery. Examine advertising outlets' policies toward the two. Examine the use of God in both. Use Moe's as one case study, the UCC ad (which doesn't mention God) as another. Conclude with a quote from Adbusters editor Kalle Lasn damning all advertising as evil.

Killing born babies:

• Police probe baby drugs claims | Police have been called in to investigate claims that a hospital involved in a legal fight over the treatment of a seriously ill baby has been administering drugs to hasten the child's death (PA, U.K.)
• Dutch consider infant euthanasia | Doctors in the Netherlands are calling for new laws allowing them to end the lives of newborn babies with intolerable and incurable illnesses (BBC)

Euthanasia in Britain:

• MPs to vote on 'euthanasia law' | MPs have begun debating a bill which critics claim would legalize euthanasia "by the back door" (BBC, video)
• Labour face revolt over 'euthanasia by stealth' legislation | Ministers were last night trying to reassure Labour MPs that a vote on "right to die" legislation today will not introduce euthanasia by the back door (The Times, London)
• Labour in revolt against 'living wills' law | Tony Blair faces a significant revolt in the Commons today over a Bill that many MPs believe will lead to the introduction of euthanasia (The Telegraph, London)
• 'We are suggesting starving our own relatives' | Claire Curtis-Thomas will vote against plans to enshrine "living wills" in law after seeing how her mother changed her mind about being left to die (The Times, London)

Life ethics:

• A boy for you, a girl for me: technology allows choice | Embryo screening stirs ethics debate (The Washington Post)
• NZ euthanasia campaigner freed | Euthanasia campaigner Lesley Martin has been released from prison in New Zealand after serving just half of her 15-month sentence for attempted murder (BBC)

Abortion:

• Democrats, abortion, and 'Alfie' | Abortion is no longer seen as central to sexual liberation but rather as much more troubling and problematic. But the Democratic Party still marches on as if nothing has changed in almost 40 years (Richard Cohen, The Washington Post)

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December (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48