Red Bull has been running a commercial which shows a priest listening to a confession of a young man. the guy says he was committing adultery. The priest suggested names of girls who may have been a victim of this thug and at the end of the commercial, the thug said he had 2 leads on loose women. Here is the commercial:
The first time I saw the commercial, I thought it was kind of funny. But then, after thinking about this for a little bit, I had some thoughts:
First, if this was an Inman and Muslim religion and this commercial was run, there would be all sorts of riots in the streets and a call for the murder of the CEO of Red Bull and the cartoonists. The Muslim religion would would be outraged and that is not a good thing as they have so many terrorists and suicide bombers ready to go and kill because of the commercial.
But, instead, Red Bull goes after Catholics and mocks the priest as dumb and incompetent. Short of showing the priest sexually abusing children, Red Bull stereotypes Catholic Priests.
The commercial doesn't accurately portray how a confession works nor does it portray the sacrament of confession (Reconciliation) in a positive light. It just shows that a incompetent priest unwittingly giving out information on loose women.
This is just another case where the artistic community and/or media portray insult Christians and in this case, Catholics.
Should Catholics be outraged. I think so. Unlike the Muslim religion, who would call for the deaths of the people that authorized this commercial, if this commercial was about Muslims instead of Catholics.
But I think Catholics should boycott Red Bull and it's products. It's easy for me to boycott to boycott Red Bull because I don't drink energy drinks. However, if you are Catholic, you may want to boycott Red Bull and drink another energy drink. There are plenty of energy drinks out there.
It's time for Christians to start rising up against companies that purposely insult Christianity and Catholicism. Boycott Red Bull.
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Actually, the Catholic Church may have stopped using penitential handbooks because the follow-up questions by priests inadvertently gave the parishioners ideas, so the Red Bull commercial may have some basis in history. One scholar created an amusing flow chart of allowed and proscribed sex acts, based entirely on medieval penitential literature.
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It's also completely ripped off from the Oscar-nominated live action short film "The Confession."
ReplyDeleteThis commercial is both dumb, backward, and insensitive all at once. What kind of idiot let this one hit the airwaves? Here are just a few reasons why it is dumb.
ReplyDelete1. Catholics and all women from progressive to the most conservative or most liberal and men who care about women should find this commercial degrading and offensive. The idea that the young male characters in this commercial are looking for "intel" to up their chances at bedding someone is disgusting.
2. "Loose women" is a term that should never be used these days. Come on already it is 2011. Even devout, practicing Christians who advocate against sex outside of marriage do not to cast stones at women who do by using such unkind terms. Name calling. Come on. That is ridiculous. If the characters were women would they have said "Loose men". No, I don't think they would.
3. Since alcoholic beverages mixed with Red Bull as a popular drink with youth and unsafe drinking became the subject of much controversy this last year, you would think Red Bull would have the sense not to tread into this kind of controversial territory with this ad that smacks of male chauvinism and objectification of women.
4. Clearly the characters in this cartoon are very young. Does Red Bull think it helps their image to show that their youngest customers are only interested in cheap, casual sex? How insulting.
5. A priest would never ask questions like that in confession. The ad is beyond farce and into absurdity at best.
I could go on but I'll stop.
I'm drafting a letter to them and telling them (1) how offensive this commercial is and (2) how I will encourage my Catholic bretheren to stop supporting an anti-Catholic organization such as Red Bull.
ReplyDeleteIn a down economy, one would think they want all the business they can get and not upset the largest Christian religion (Roman Catholic) out there. But then again, what do I know? I'm just a lawyer and not a marketing guru.
Red Bull has just released another offensive ad against the muslim belief in south africa. I think they are pushing the limits when it comes to all faiths & backgrounds. I believe another offensive & contraversial red bull ad mocking Jesus walking on water was banned in sa not so long ago.
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