By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A Christian advertising campaign in the UK that features Jesus in the womb with a halo is drawing fire from abortion advocates who claim the ads are not just intended to tell the Christmas story, but are politically motivated.
The ad, produced by an ecumenical nonprofit in England called ChurchAds.net, is part of an Advent campaign that features the Baby Jesus as an ultrasound image. The ads proclaim: “He’s on His way. Christmas starts with Christ.” They are appearing on billboards and posters in churches, retail stores, bus shelters and homes throughout the UK.
The company also produced some clever radio spots along with an airport announcement and a funny telephone message from St. Joseph about the birth of his Son.
” . . . (I)f we Christians really want to keep Christmas focused on Christ, we must constantly re-tell the story of His birth in ways which engage positively with the public’s interest,” the group says on their website.
“In the 21st century, proud parents-to-be proudly announce the coming birth by showing friends and family the scan of the baby. Our new Baby Scan Jesus poster uses this convention to place the birth of Christ in an ultra-contemporary context.”
Presenting the Christmas story anew is a fundamental aim of the campaign. ” Research has revealed that 85 per cent of people agree with the statement that ‘Christmas should be called Christmas because we are still a Christian country’,” ChurchAds claims, which is why they believe the Christmas story needs to be told anew.
But not everyone is pleased with the campaign. As one critic commented in the The Guardian this past summer, the ads are too pro-life for comfort.
“It gives the impression that it was politically motivated, that they are trying to put across some sort of subliminal message,” said Terry Sanderson, director of the National Secular Society. “The image is too specifically associated with pro-lifers to be seen in a benign context. They should go back to angels and cribs.”
Mike Elms, vice chair of ChurchAds.net disagrees. “We wanted to convey that Christmas starts with Christ,” he insists. “We put a halo on it because theologians speak of Jesus being fully human and fully divine.”
Last year the group aired the same ads on 170 different radio stations and reached an estimated 10 million people. This year, their aim is to air ads on 200 stations with the hopes that their “Ultrasound Jesus” campaign will touch the hearts of 40 million people.
To view the ad, visit ChurchAds.net.
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