September has been an interesting month for Christianity in the Australian media, and particularly Sydney.
Jesus has hit the headlines in two media campaigns launched this month – one, a poster campaign by Outreach Media, challenging who is forming our opinions about Jesus (see the poster, and read the responses to critical claims about Jesus). The other is a mass-media campaign launched by the Bible Society and supported by churches across Sydney – ‘Jesus: All About Life‘.
Both campaigns have received media attention through mainstream media (tv, newspapers), and also in the blogosphere. I have been particularly interested to see the comments that these media mentions have received (i.e. where the articles have been opened up for comments so that the general public can respond with their opinions).
Below is a list of media references and links to discussion forums I’ve collated that discuss these campaigns. I’ve found the comments made against many of these articles to be particularly enlightening about how Australians perceive Christianity.
The responses (in general) remind me of 2 Corinthians 2:16 -
“To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.”
Have a read for yourself…
‘Too brainwashed to read the Bible’ campaign
- Apparently, I’m too brainwashed to read the Bible! (post on the Good Atheist website)
- Your all brainwashed! That’s why you should read the Bible (discussion forum on DeviantART website)
- Message board at my local church reads “Too brainwashed to read the Bible” (discussion thread on reddit website)
‘Jesus: All About Life’ campaign
- Churches put their faith in advertising Jesus (article in the Sydney Morning Herald)
- Thanks for the hot chips, Jesus! Australian churches launch bizarre ad campaign to bring the flock back into the fold (article in the UK’s Daily Mail)
- The 7pm project (discussion on a segment of Channel 10′s current affairs program)
- Jesus promotion (a discussion forum following 7pm project segment)
- Keep biased programming off television (another discussion forum following 7pm project segment)
- Faith in advertising misplaced (article on the ABC News website)
- Churches probably need more than faith for their advertising campaign to work (post by a Deakin University academic)
- NSW churches prepare for biggest ever marketing push (article on media and marketing website ‘mUmBRELLA’)
- Christian churches plan massive ad blitz (transcript of interview on ABC radio)
- Preaching to the unconverted (article on online journal for social and political debate)
- Campaign presents the word of Jesus (article in a South Coast newspaper)
- Mick Molloy gives thanks to the Lord (segment on Rove – warning, don’t watch if you don’t want to see Mick Molloy blaspheming Jesus)
- 303 to lure lapsed Christians back to Jesus
- Bible Society of NSW ‘Jesus all about life’ by 303
- Your thoughts on the Jesus All About Life campaign (a segment on ABC Local radio – no comments posted)
- Jesus is the answer… (a post on an atheist’s blog about ‘Jesus’ billboard advertising)
- Campaign to mass-marketing Jesus Christ (an article on The Australian)
- Thanks for the hot chips (a discussion forum on a Catholic website)
- Thank you Jesus I’m in WA and won’t see these embarassing ads in NSW (from a blog called Exploitative Christianity)
- Branding is no match for the real thing (an article in SMH)
- Jesus all about life_lies (I couldn’t be bothered to sign-up to access it, but this is a link to a forum on Richard Dawkin’s website)
- Jesus all about life/lies (a discussion forum on the James Randi Educational Forum website)
- Jesus thanked for beaches and chips (a post on the moawards blog)
- Rebranding God (a post by Christian blog St Eutychus)
- Advertising Jesus (a post by Christian, Gordon Cheng)
- Mention of God (another post by Gordon, quoting a great ‘letter to the editor’ in the SMH)
- Jesus in the spotlight (an article in the Mosman Daily)
- Jesus: All About Life (segment on ABC local radio on Sunday Nights)
- How to market the intangible? (a blog post by the head of the PR agency promoting the JAAL campaign)
- Jesus All About Life campaign (Barney shares his response to some of the anti-Christian letters appearing in the SMH)
- Logos of Logo (an interview on ABC radio’s The Spirit of Things)
- Beaking ad: thanks for the sunburn Jesus (another post on media and marketing website ‘mUmBRELLA’)
- Jesus is coming to a screen near you (a post on advertising site Campaign Brief)
- Why does God need an ad? (tv advertisement is launched on Channel 7′s Sunrise)
- Jesus All About Life: It’s a clever campaign (my friend Hayley blogs about the opportunities the campaign presents)
- Churches unite to promote Jesus (an article in The Australian)
- Mike Baird, Member for Manly, gives a speech to parliament
- Jesus All About Life in NSW (a post on creative blog Inspiration Daily)
- Comments on YouTube about the TV advertisement
- Jesus, all about…what? (a post by a Christian blogger)
- Is advertising a silly place to spend? (a post by Church Marketing Sucks)
- Jesus advertising: give me an (ad) break (a post on Christian site Sola Panel)
- Marketing the Messiah (a post on the Sydney Anglicans website)
Previous campaigns
The Jesus: All About Life campaign has also run in Adelaide and Canberra. Where there are links of interest back to the earlier campaigns, I’ll post the details here.
- Australia’s ‘Jesus: All About Life’ campaign (a post on American website, Church Marketing Sucks)
I’ll keep adding to this list as new mentions appear.