Banned Phones4U Jesus ad was enlightened public relations
A mobile telephone advert that had a grinning Jesus offering ‘miraculous deals’ for Phones4U has been banned for being disrespectful – and has brought Phones4U a slew of publicity some five months after the advert was run to coincide with Easter.
The advert, which is pictured above, was the company’s attempt to create a ‘light-hearted, positive and contemporary image of Christianity relevant to the Easter Weekend’ which is probably stretching it a bit, but it no doubt sold them more than a few phones before they withdrew it after direct complaints.
However, and forgive the obvious pun, the advert has been resurrected because 98 people complained to the advert watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority and five months later it has banned the advert. That is an advert for Easter that hasn’t been used again since…
Consequently, the ruling by the ASA has led to a fresh outing for the advert and plenty of coverage, all of which has undoubtedly led to a healthy spike in Phones4U’s sales.
Now, I’m sure no-one suggested creating an advert that would be banned, but they would have been remiss if they did not anticipate complaints – and the benefit of the ensuing publicity, all over a weekend when more phones are normally bought.
The web is littered with frivolous debates over whether Jesus would have been a Mac or a PC, or What Would Jesus Blog, all of which either seek to make religion more relevant or to make themselves more relevant to religion.
Generally speaking (Danish cartoonists anyone) religion is best left to the faithful and not for fun promotions, but a bit of controversy, properly anticipated, can work wonders.
Morgan PR is all about creating reputations and sometimes we do that with controversy; we also can defend reputations if controversy has ambushed you. Eitherway you can contact the leading PR and social media agency in Berkshire on 0845 0033 666 or via the Contact Morgan PR page.