St Matthew in the City stirs the pot with pregnancy billboard

By Esther Goh, December 15, 2011 @ 11:28 am

Auckland church St Matthew in the City is nothing if not willing to push the envelope, and its billboards are always big news in adland.

This Christmas none other than Jesus' mother is in the spotlight, depicting a shocked Mary gazing at the results of a positive home pregnancy test.

Vicars Glynn Cardy and Clay Nelson said the concept was about a "real pregnancy, a real mother and a real child".

"It’s about real anxiety, courage and hope. Regardless of any premonition, that discovery would have been shocking. Mary was unmarried, young, and poor. This pregnancy would shape her future. She was certainly not the first woman in this situation or the last," they said.

"As in the past it is our intention to avoid the sentimental, trite and expected to spark thought and conversation in the community. This year we hope to do so with an image and no words. We invite you to wonder what your caption might be."

The billboard – designed by TBWA\ – will remain up until Christmas Day.

Let the outrage ensue.

Comments

Me

December 15, 2011 @ 12:41 pm

Seems churches will do anything to try and save their dying relic of an institution from inevitable extinction.

Ollie Langridge

December 15, 2011 @ 1:11 pm

Ha ha ha. Absolutely agree with the 12.41 post. Of course, she's still a virgin though, right? It's time for atheists to stand up to this kind of claptrap that is 'religion', no matter what brand of invisible friend you favour.

Religious faith means making a virtue of of not thinking, and those who preach it or elevate it are intellectual slaveholders, keeping people in bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has caused so much lunacy and destruction.

Religion must die for mankind to evolve.