Church Life

Commercial Brake

Advertising for a Church of England diocese equates Jesus’ crucifixion to body piercing

Advertiser

The Church of England, Diocese of Birmingham

Setup

“Body piercing?”

Tagline

“Jesus had his done 2,000 years ago.”

Rationale

Diocesan communications director Arun Arora: “The purpose of these posters is to try and grab the attention of a group of people with whom the church has lost contact.”

Rebuttal

Christian Institute spokesman Ian Bainbridge: “The poster … trivializes the crucifixion of Jesus.”

Copyright © 2002 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere

The Diocese of Birmingham‘s official Web site has an image of the poster and explanation of what it means. The Body Piercing ad is one of four posters put up to advertise the diocese’s Web site to 16 to 24-year-olds. Other posters include: Asylum Seekers, Drugs, and The Church is for Life.

Related articles include:

Church unveils ‘body piercing’ crucifix poster – Ananova (Dec. 4, 2001)

In December, Commercial Brake looked at a wine company who launched a “Jesus was born in a trough” campaign.

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