Churches puts Jesus into a Santa outfit for Christmas

by Staff,, Brand Republic 10-Sep-03, 09:15

LONDON - In an ad that is likely to provoke considerable controversy, Britain's churches are to launch an advertising campaign, which features the baby Jesus dressed in a red Santa Claus outfit.

The poster campaign is the latest effort to turn people back to the church in UK, as numbers continue to decline.

The campaign has been produced by the Churches Advertising Network and is created in the style of an old-master painting. It depicts the traditional Bethlehem nativity scene, with the added difference of baby Jesus dressed in a red Santa suit popularised by Coca-Cola.

The ad comes as a new survey finds that less people than ever before believe in God as they turn to other spiritual outlets.

The poster, which features the caption "Go on, ask Him for something this Christmas", is designed to encourage people to be less materialistic and tap into a spiritual dimension instead. It is being supported by a radio advertising campaign that humorously highlights over-consumption at Christmas.

According to the Churches Advertising Network: "As always, we announce our Christmas advertising just as the commercial Christmas rush starts. Our poster is a reminder that the real message is not about letters to Santa posted up the chimney, trips to Lapland and expensive self indulgence."

The Churches Advertising Network is an independent and ecumenical group of Church communicators, which for the past 10 years has produced a series of often controversial poster and radio ads.

The Rev Tom Ambrose, a member of CAN, said: "The aim of the poster is to counter the materialism of Christmas in a fresh and challenging way. The greatest gift of all time is the present of God's Son."

Last year, it developed an award-winning radio campaign, "Losing the plot", which scooped the Andrew Cross Award for best radio ad or promotion. The ad was aimed at a youth audience and broadcast on 24 radio stations including the Galaxy network.

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