The giant billboards, placed by the Hell Pizza company, have been plastered around Auckland, the country's largest city. Lloyd Ashton, a spokesman for New Zealand's Anglican Church, condemned the advertising campaign as disgraceful. "It's disrespectful to what a lot of people hold very dear," he said.
"They've dared here to take a clumsy poke at something that numbers of people hold sacred." Patrick Dunn, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, said: "I suppose in some ways they are acknowledging that Jesus was around for a limited time, but a number of people might decide to boycott Hell pizzas for a while and I will be one of them."
Warren Powell, a director of the company, defended the campaign, saying: "I do not see how it could possibly be disrespectful to anyone's religion. We may bring them back next year, and everyone's saying that Jesus Christ is coming back one day," he said.
4 comments:
I definitely see the humour in this, but I also think the company official is being disingenuous when he says ""I do not see how it could possibly be disrespectful to anyone's religion." Clearly it's meant to be disrespectful -- or at least very irreverent -- in order to generate publicity.
I think it's very funny, but then again, I don't give a toss about religion. The bit about bringing them back one day just like JC seems a bit contrived mind.
I thought that symbol was a pentacle... not a pentagram. Besides... if you turn the bun around, it can become a symbol for Wiccans and Neo-Pagans.
But I guess Christians would get upset about that, too. Even though I have no idea what a pastry has to do with Jesus in the first place...
Cath already said what I was thinking, so no need for me to post a comment.
Post a Comment