Postkiwi

The Churches Advertising Network in the UK have come out with another poster campaign based on the revolutionary Jesus image. Around the UK people will be seeing red posters with the image of a baby’s face superimposed on the Che Guevara portrait.

The text at the bottom: “Dec 25th. Revolution Begins. Celebrate the Birth of a Hero. Jesus? Txt Hero or Zero to 81025 or visit www.rejesus.co.uk”

The Jesus/Che Guevara poster from Easter 1999 was CAN’s most celebrated image. Now the revolutionary Jesus appears as an infant.

CAN’s explanation:

“We proclaim the saviour who would change the world.
Just as in the “meek mild as if” campaign, we declare that Jesus was not “a wimp in a white nighty”. This campaign shows the potential of the infant son of God.”

When people text their response (hero or zero) to 81025, they receive a text back thanking them for taking part and pointing to the hellojesus website for more information.

[eminimall products="Che Guevara"]

And why is the poster modelled on Che Guevara?

“A challenging face, a hero, a real revolutionary. It’s Jesus who changed the world, not Che. And it’s not “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” - it’s modelled on the unmistakable image of Jesus with the crown of thorns”.

David Kunzle, art historian at UCLA and author of “Che Guevara - Icon Myth and Message“, describes the child as a two or three year-old as in Renaissance art. He says the child shows a wisdom and insight beyond his years.

The Churches’ Advertising Network describes themselves as an independent ecumenical group of Christian communicators which exists to provide high quality national Christian advertising campaigns, especially around major festivals, and to provide the means for local churches to share in and receive the benefit of such national campaigns. They don’t consult widely before coming out with their advertising campaigns - which usually means that there’s plenty of discussion among church leaders in the weeks after the campaign begins.

www.churchads.org.uk/Christmas2005.html