Religious groups have always existed in society and are quite vocal in the communities whenever, basically, any sort of controversy comes up. I went through the consumer complaints section on the ASC website and came across one where I actually recognized the advertisement.
Nissan Canada Inc. developed a commercial for “100 days of grace”, meant to advertise their deferred payment promotion and this complaint was pulled from the ASC consumer complaint database from Q2 2008. It falls under the jurisdiction of Clause 14: Unacceptable Depictions and Portrayals.
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Advertiser: |
Nissan Canada Inc. |
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Industry: |
Automotive |
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Region: |
National |
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Media: |
Television |
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Complaint: |
27 |
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Description: |
A television commercial for a “100 days of grace” deferred payment promotion featured a long haired, bearded man dressed in white, bathed in a halo–like light, with a dove ascending from behind him. The long-haired man proclaimed the promotion to be “glorious”. |
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Complaint: |
That the commercial demeaned the Christian religion, the Christian community, and fundamental tenets that underlie its religious beliefs. |
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Decision: |
Council accepted the advertiser’s assurances that it did not intend by this commercial to offend or insult the Christian religion. Nonetheless, to Council it was inappropriate to use symbols and icons in this commercial that have been identified by adherents of the Christian religion as being sacred. These included the Christ-like figure around which a halo of ephemeral light radiated, the dove ascending, and the out-of-context and out-of-character application of religiously significant words such as “grace” and “glorious”. Council concluded that these elements, in combination, and in a commercial context, all served to demean fundamental religious beliefs and principles of the Christian community. Council did not find that the elements of humour or fantasy in this commercial justified the way in which sacred aspects of the Christian faith and belief were treated. |
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Infraction: |
Clause 14(c) |
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Advertiser’s Verbatim Statement: |
“Nissan Canada did not intend for the 100 Days of Grace advertising campaign to upset or offend anyone. Nissan Canada is committed to upholding the provisions of the Advertising Code and takes great effort to ensure that our advertising is consistent with our obligations to Advertising Standards Canada and the consuming public. Nissan Canada has acknowledged and respects the decision of the Consumer Review Council.” |
Source: http://www.adstandards.com/en/standards/adComplaintsReportsSearch.asp
Nissan Canada most likely did not have the intention of offending the Christians. However, it should have been common sense that this commercial would haul in complaints by religious fanatics who believe that placing a Jesus-like figure in any context outside of their own personal doctrines is outrageous and offensive. People are incredibly sensitive about their religion because it is their faith and it is what they believe, and to have a figure that they revere placed in a car dealership discussing car deals with a Nissan representative is just ridiculous.
Religious fanaticism places a lot of obstacles in advertisers’ way because some peoples’ complaints are bordering on the line of political correctness gone mad. In a way, advertising is everything that the Christian religion loathes: faith placed in products/services, emphasis on material goods as fulfillment of life’s voids, instilled materialism with a necessity to satisfy the insatiable need for more consumerism… basically anything that derives attention away from worshipping God. However, these two worlds MUST co-exist. They always have co-existed and they will continue to co-exist.
The solution is simple: don’t make religious references in your advertisements. It is not necessary.
/end controversy.
