Christian leaders have branded a television commercial depicting the baby Jesus tossing gifts back at the three wise men as tacky and offensive.
The ad for electronic goods retailers Betta Electrical recreates the Christian nativity scene, showing three wise men offering gifts to baby Jesus as he lies in the manger.
The commercial, which has angered Anglican and Catholic leaders, shows Jesus throwing gifts out of the manger as the words “Give a better gift” flash on the TV screen.
Christian leaders criticised the ad, calling it a tacky and offensive exploitation of religious imagery which perverts the true meaning of Christmas.
If it sells their products, they’ll do it again.
The question I always ask is how in the world did the church get to this place – and frankly, a lot of the blame must be laid at the feet of 19th century liberalism. If all the meat and potatoes of the Christian story was simply embellished by men, then why not relegate the whole thing to holiday cheer, marketing and fashion.
Yea, after 4 services, three with lessons and carols last week, and three more to go – where so many have no clue in my parishes (I am in year 2, Anglican Church of Canada, rural) who Jesus really is, and what we are reading and singing about (infected with the wake of the above comment), I am developing a small chip on my shoulder that my wife hopes disappears before Christmas Eve.
Welcome to the secular holiday of “Giftmas”. Why bother with that tacky religious meaning when you know all you want is the latest gadget.
Only one wise man was wise enough to bring a practical gift anyway — gold! So bring your gold card to our store and buy your loved ones some gilt without guilt!
🙄
#2 & 3-You astonish me. Do you really think it offends Jesus when children who have nothing are given something tangible to cheer them? Of course, it is best when, along with these gifts, children are told of the greatest gift, the coming of Christ—and some charities, like Samaritan’s Purse, do exactly that. I wish more did. I agree that rampant consumerism has taken over this holy season–but I don’t think that’s what the article was about.
The appropriation of Christian religious language/image for shock-commerce will only be effective as long as the Christian religion is generally appropriated. Right now, they’re running on vapors.
#2 &3;–Sorry, for some reason your comments appeared attached to a different article–or else I wasn’t paying attention. 🙁
In Newark,
Glad that was cleared up! lol