A KINKY TV ad, featuring a reluctant Jesus about to receive the attentions of a big ol’ dominatrix, has upset some Catholics in Italy.
The advert, for mobile phone earpieces, depicts the saviour sweating and looking anxious. He winces when a woman in tights and high heels enters the room, thwacks whip on the bed and starts to straddle him.
Looking upwards as if to God, Jesus says in English
Hey Dad, can you help me?
According to this report, the bizarre ad, for a company called Nodis, was aired on a national television channel, Italia 1, which is owned by Mediaset, a company belonging to Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian PM.
An editorial in Avvenire, a daily newspaper owned by the Catholic Bishops Conference, howled:
It’s a sordid concept and incredibly insulting to those who believe in Jesus Christ.
The newspaper’s editor, Marco Tarquinio, said the commercial should never have been made. He suggested that Catholics offended by the ad should stop watching the channel and boycott the company’s products.
An association of Catholic television viewers, Aiart, made a formal protest over the commercial, saying:
The reference to Christ is explicit and deeply offensive to religious sentiment.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
April 28th, 2011 at 10:16 am
The ad is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE3T1iI2iAE
April 28th, 2011 at 10:23 am
Crumbs Mary Magdalene has put on some weight.
April 28th, 2011 at 10:44 am
In the words of the recently departed Poly Styrene…
“Oh bondage, up yours”
April 28th, 2011 at 11:24 am
Anne Widdecombe’s prayers are finally answered……
April 28th, 2011 at 11:25 am
Damnit, The Woggler got the X-Ray Spex line in first. *sulk*
On the positive side, at least it shows that even in staunchly Catholic Italy, the makers thought there would be enough of an audience who would appreciate the joke.
Oh Bondage, Up Yours
Tony, that’s an image I’ll have in my head all day now. Thanks. I think.
Brain-scrub time…
April 28th, 2011 at 11:31 am
I find this being in any way associated with Berlusconi somewhat surprising.
April 28th, 2011 at 11:47 am
The Woggler:
Maybe Jesus gets Berlusconi’s rejects…
April 28th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
@tony e: Widders, in an interview, says her biggest regret is not having a child. Now this should cheer us all. What a lucky escape for the child. Imagine Widders, Ratzi groupie, bringing up a child in the RC faith and tradition. Chills the blood, numbs the mind. The babe would be splashed with holy water, advice from a allegedly celibate but unmarried priest, and into the confessional before it could walk.
Holidays: Lourdes and the Vatican on alternate years.
Toys: Crucifixes, rosary, coloured pictures of the emaciated, bleeding, agonised Jesus on the cross.
Books. The Bible, The Cross and the Switchblade, The Thoughts of St Thomas Aquinas in three easy lessons.
Career: Priest.
April 28th, 2011 at 1:34 pm
Offend those who believe in Jesus’ They have been offending me for a long,long,time, so its about time.
April 28th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
@elainek123: They have been offending humanity: the sum of the suffering flowing from their many and conflicting “truths” stuns the imagination. Yet their sensitivity to words or pictures provokes their outrage.
April 28th, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Stephen and Andrea perform “The Passion Of The Christ” one week later than planned on Italian TV. A spokesperson for Christian Concern said “We Are Not Ashamed”.
April 28th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
As Kate removes her corset, Will starts to wonder what he’s got himself into…
April 28th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Is it me? Nowhere is mentioned the J word. A bearded bloke ringing his dad under difficult circumstances. What are all these religiots on about?
April 28th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
If Jesus really were into BDSM that would explain quite a lot.
April 29th, 2011 at 2:42 am
Daz said:
“As Kate removes her corset, Will starts to wonder what he’s got himself into…”
They’ve been dating for eight years. Do you imagine for a moment that he hasn’t dropped his bucket into that well? After that much time, I’d be looking for some strange.
Broga said:
” They have been offending humanity: the sum of the suffering flowing from their many and conflicting “truths†stuns the imagination”
Indeed, let me quote a previous thread of the pope’s easter blather:
“In some tiny corner of the cosmos there evolved randomly some species of living being capable of reasoning and of trying to find rationality within creation”
The hypocritically ironic point to be found here is that if the RCC had won the battle against science, no human would know how unimagineably enormous the universe is. Galileo, a devout catholic, front and center, of course. And, “trying to find rationality within creation” is what threatens us as a species.
I watched the ad. I wonder where the Jesus thing enters into the debate. But, I would not be offended by a depiction of Muhammed fucking a toddler. Not because it is not repulsive, but because the world needs to realize what religion is. Pull off their blinders, tell it like it is. But, we need to do it with FACTS, not spin, BDuke.
NeoWolfe
April 29th, 2011 at 3:11 am
Given that the vatican is in Italy, how cool are the Italians! If it didn’t work, it wouldn’t be used.
April 29th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
Robster, Actually the Vatican is a sovereign country – true, it’s surround by Italy but it’s not part of Italy.