Faith just isn’t in the jeans for Polish Church
-14/09/05
A leading Polish clothes company which recently launched a nationwide advertising campaign featuring a priest wearing its denims and a clerical collar has evoked outrage in some sections of the Roman Catholic Church.
ìThis firm has deliberately used a priest, knowing that men of the cloth avoid publicly expressing their fashion preferences,î declares Professor Janusz Krolikowski, from Holy Cross University in Rome.
He adds that the company ìhas dragged the clergy into a game of market forces,î according to KAI, Poland’s Catholic information agency.
Continues Professor Krolikowski: ìItís an absurdity and an abuse. The firm is using something which doesn’t belong to it, for purposes which are wholly inappropriate.î
In a separate development, Luxembourg-based clothing brand ëJesus Jeansí had its application for a trademark in the UK turned down by the Patent Office some months ago because the name was deemed ìmorally offensiveî, according to website Adland.
But the label has successfully registered the name in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, France, Italy, and Spain.
However, ëJesus Jeansí rejection in the UK was not the first. It was also sent packing in Germany, Switzerland, China, Hungary and Ireland.
In Britain the public is more accustomed to images of clergy in advertising. Over the years their appearance has been used to promote products as varied as butter and insurance.
And since the 1960s in the USA, young believers have enjoyed a close relationship with denim ñ sewing devotional religious symbols onto jackets and trousers.
But radical Christians have also criticized the consumer culture. In ëThe Challenge of Liberation Theology: A First World Responseí (edited by Brian Mahan and L. Dale Richesin), the late German theologian Dorothee Soelle savaged a Levi-Strauss advertising slogan.
Her famous essay ìThou shalt have no other jeans before meî attacked the idolatrous reduction of human need and aspiration to corporate interests.
Faith just isn’t in the jeans for Polish Church
-14/09/05
A leading Polish clothes company which recently launched a nationwide advertising campaign featuring a priest wearing its denims and a clerical collar has evoked outrage in some sections of the Roman Catholic Church.
‘This firm has deliberately used a priest, knowing that men of the cloth avoid publicly expressing their fashion preferences,’ declares Professor Janusz Krolikowski, from Holy Cross University in Rome.
He adds that the company ‘has dragged the clergy into a game of market forces,’ according to KAI, Poland’s Catholic information agency.
Continues Professor Krolikowski: ‘It’s an absurdity and an abuse. The firm is using something which doesn’t belong to it, for purposes which are wholly inappropriate.’
In a separate development, Luxembourg-based clothing brand ëJesus Jeans’ had its application for a trademark in the UK turned down by the Patent Office some months ago because the name was deemed ‘morally offensive’, according to website Adland.
But the label has successfully registered the name in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, France, Italy, and Spain.
However, ëJesus Jeans’ rejection in the UK was not the first. It was also sent packing in Germany, Switzerland, China, Hungary and Ireland.
In Britain the public is more accustomed to images of clergy in advertising. Over the years their appearance has been used to promote products as varied as butter and insurance.
And since the 1960s in the USA, young believers have enjoyed a close relationship with denim – sewing devotional religious symbols onto jackets and trousers.
But radical Christians have also criticized the consumer culture. In ëThe Challenge of Liberation Theology: A First World Response’ (edited by Brian Mahan and L. Dale Richesin), the late German theologian Dorothee Soelle savaged a Levi-Strauss advertising slogan.
Her famous essay ‘Thou shalt have no other jeans before me’ attacked the idolatrous reduction of human need and aspiration to corporate interests.