Friday, May 31, 2013

In Australia, Sacrilege Sells

In the ersatz world of Big Advertising, sex sells.  Apparently, so does outrageous blasphemy.
I just ran across this ad for the Australian spread AussieMite, depicting a young woman dipping a consecrated host into the brown paste, then offering it to the bishop.  “It’s sacrilicious!” the ad says.
The company describes its product as
“a delicious premium savoury spread, leading on taste, nutrition and the finest quality ingredients.  Yeast-based, non-GM and gluten-free, it re-defines a traditional staple for the 21st century.”
Sitting here on the other side of the world, I’m having trouble understanding why Grown-Ups, the Sydney advertising agency which produced this commercial, set out to deliberately offend God and 5.4 million Australian Catholics (25.3% of the population of that country).
Mick Hunter, the ad’s anti-Catholic creator, acknowledges the ad is intended to cause a stir, and hopes it will go viral. “We’re trying to track down [Cardinal] George Pell’s email,” Hunter explains, “and send it to him so he can blow it out of proportion.”
AussieMite’s director, Elise Ramsey, is a self-described Catholic.  She claims that no offense was intended, and that the ad played off the “topic of the moment,” the election of a new pope.  Ramsey said of the ad’s theme:
“We thought it was the topic of the moment. We wanted something that was a bit fun. It’s not in any way meant to be a strike against the Catholic Church. I’m Catholic and I don’t find it offensive. It’s simply meant to be a talking-piece. I hope that Australia finds it funny.”
Is this FUNNY?  Tell me what you think.


7 comments:

  1. The ad is offensive, but I don't think many in Australia will be as surprised by it as one might think. a friend of mine lives in South Australia, and in that state, there have been many abuses by some of the priests there. Such as (1) A priest who ordered that the Crucifix be removed from the sanctuary and stored in the sacristy closet, as the focus in Mass should be on him (the priest), and nothing else; (2) liturgical dancing; and one of the worst (3.)a sister who had convinced the priest to substitute the Our Father with "Our Mother". On the last one, my friend contacted the Archbishop's office, and this was stopped before it could occur.

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  2. Is this FUNNY? Tell me what you think.

    Yes.

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  3. "We didn't intend . . ." And yada yada yada. The great cave that mean-spirited people always run into to hide the truth about themselves.

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  4. I wish they would put in in perspective and spread their trashy spread on the Quoram. See how that goes down. By attacking the Catholic Church they show their cowardice.

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  5. These people risk their eternal souls going to hell and don't think anything of it. I pity and pray for God's mercy on them. And does anyone else find the woman's eyes creepy and evil looking? Quite fitting for this evil context.

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  6. Not Funny at all.

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  7. This is offensive. Boycott the company so they can see how "cutting edge" people find their humor. Don't make a big public stink about it, just quit buying their product.

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