Sony pulls a "Jesus ad"...

[Lefty Grove]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050930/...dvert_jesus_dc

[svosen]

I find that ad quite distasteful, which comes as no surprise, seeing as I'm a Christian.

I can see, however, that non-Christians would find nothing wrong with it. To someone who doesn't place his eternal faith in Christ, it's just a reference to a subject of literature - perhaps even a slightly clever one, at that.

I do find it interesting, though, that many groups spend a lot of effort telling Christians to be "tolerant" and "sensitive" in regard to other religions, but it seems like slanderous uses of the name and image of Christ go off with little public outcry.

As one man alluded in the article, it would have been interesting to have heard the reaction if a similar slight had been made against a muslim figure. I would bet that many non-muslims would have cried foul. Whereas in this instance, I would imagine that nearly no non-Christians will care in the slightest. I wonder why that is...

[Cowboy22]

It doesn't really bug me since I'm not a Christian, but I can see where someone who is might be offended. Not the best idea for an ad on Sony's part.

[Gabriel013]

I agree that the reaction would have been stronger if it had been an Islamic/Muslim symbol as all the PC idiots would have got on their high horses.

Jesus is just one symbol of a belief system and an idealogy. I honestly don't see why it should be so offensive to have some reference used in advertisement. They aren't mocking or belittling the Christian faith, they are simply using historical symbols.

For those who don't believe in the traditional religions, all artifacts and references are simply part of the history of the human race and using samples of it (so to speak) shouldn't cause anyone any distaste.


There are some people who whole heartedly believe in the Jedi way of life and that the Force actually exists and that George Lucas was simply taking poetic licence with his movies ie using existing ideology to create entertainment. Would Christians and Muslims take offence to seeing parodies relating to this? Nope. Why? because they don't believe it is real, they only know that there are people out there who do. Having the greater majority believe what you believe doesn't mean it should be treated any greater or less than the beliefs of others.

Having a belief system is important. But only to the individual whom believes, not to everyone in society.

[Norrec]

I personally, am not Christian, but I don't really see the reasoning behind this ad. A guy wearing a crown of thorns and smiling, promoting Playstation? Did this guy have to endure the pain of the 'Playstation crown of thorns' for 10 years? doesn't seem like it's promoting PS at all. Was he hung up at the cross so that his followers could play Playstation? I just don't get it. To me, it's an inneffective ad, it doesn't seem to get the point out (if I'm missing something, let me know) and it's uselessly relating to a figurehead of a major religion, which (obviously) would and did offend people, needlessly. Sometimes you need to offend people a little to get the point across, but this didn't seem to even have that point at all.

[Gamer_X]

If I was an art director at whatever studio or design firm that ad came from, that wouldn't have gotten past the brainstorming stages. That's just tactless. Seriously, the guy who came up with that would have his career on the line, and probably does.

[svosen]

Originally posted by Norrec
I personally, am not Christian, but I don't really see the reasoning behind this ad. A guy wearing a crown of thorns and smiling, promoting Playstation? Did this guy have to endure the pain of the 'Playstation crown of thorns' for 10 years? doesn't seem like it's promoting PS at all. Was he hung up at the cross so that his followers could play Playstation? I just don't get it. To me, it's an inneffective ad, it doesn't seem to get the point out (if I'm missing something, let me know) and it's uselessly relating to a figurehead of a major religion, which (obviously) would and did offend people, needlessly. Sometimes you need to offend people a little to get the point across, but this didn't seem to even have that point at all.

It was supposed to be a play on words.

I don't claim to be completely up on my foreign languages, but I believe the Greek word used to describe the SUFFERING of Christ has been translated into English as "passion." That's why Mel Gibson's movie was titled "The PASSION of the Christ."

Sony was saying that people have been passionate about the Playstation for ten years. Even though the intended meanings of "passion" in the two instances are quite different, somebody decided it was a clever enough play on words to make a good ad.

In my eyes, it just showed how ignorant the ad creation group was.

[Rebel]

Although distasteful, the ad did get people talking and thinking about Sony. Maybe that was the intention, because I can't think of any other reason the advertisment group would allow that to go out.

[Ryan H.]

Originally posted by Gabriel013



There are some people who whole heartedly believe in the Jedi way of life and that the Force actually exists and that George Lucas was simply taking poetic licence with his movies ie using existing ideology to create entertainment. Would Christians and Muslims take offence to seeing parodies relating to this? Nope. Why? because they don't believe it is real, they only know that there are people out there who do. Having the greater majority believe what you believe doesn't mean it should be treated any greater or less than the beliefs of others.

Having a belief system is important. But only to the individual whom believes, not to everyone in society.

Two problems, here.

One, the Force is an artistic interpretation of asian beliefs as exemplified by the Shaolin Monks. The feats the Jedi use, the concentration of being, self, etc. is an extension of the beliefs of the monks. For those who don't follow the same beliefs the Shaolin do, the belief that The Force exists is just a pathetic attempt to ascribe spiritual context to a ing movie, and that comparison to Christians is both unfair, illogical and pretty insulting.

Got that bit straight from George Lucas and Discovery Channel

Secondly, beliefs are important to more than the person holding them. I'm not talking about being PC, but the fact is that religious belief plays a big role in the functions of society. A fundamental disrespect for fundamental religion is a problem, even if you're not religious, as I am.

That being said, Sony has no moral obligation to Christians, they only have a financial obligation to their shareholders. Sony is obligated to conduct themselves in a manner that brings those who invest in them the best return. If using Jesus in an ad does that, there we go.

It obviously doesn't, so bye bye ad.

[Gabriel013]

The point I was trying to get across (not very successfully) was that religion isn't fact. There are many different people that believe many different things. Just because 1 million believe one thing and 1 individual believes something else doesn't make either group right. This therefore doesn't automatically mean it's wrong to use recognisable references to your own ends. I would only change my stance on this if it was obviously used for the pure reason of causing offence. That is when the respect for other people's beliefs is taken away.

I'm note 100% sure of what you are meaning with "...religious belief plays a big role in the functions of society."

If you mean by the fact that we aren't overun by murderers, thieves and rapist then surely this is still down to each individual?

I'm not a follower of Christianity or Islam or any of the other society friendly religions but I think I can say confidently that anyone who knows me will say I'm a pretty decent individual. However we all know that there are very religious individuals who commit great attrocities in the name of their chosen faith. I'm not saying religion doesn't have an overall positive effect on society but what I am saying is that it is how each individual views his/her chosen faith and how they chose to behave that matters, and not the religion itself.