This means of proseletyzing is very popular within some segments of Christian culture. It is available in many forms: t-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons, mousepads, pencil holders, coffee mugs, keychains and innumerable other solid objects, including mints.
What goes through a non-Christian's mind when they see one of these shirts or eat a Testamint?
Has anyone ever gotten saved because a t-shirt taunted them about going to hell? I'd be interested to know.
35 comments:
Wow, the Mountain Dew knock off is really stretching it, I'd say.
I'd be interested in knowing the effects of said shirts as well.
Becca
One of my friends saw one of these when we were together, shook his head and just said "copyright infringement"
I quite fancy that Mountain Dew logo! It's very attractive!
I think Gregg will be eternally sorry that he passed up on the Crest/Christ TruthPaste shirt.
What percentage of Christians find reducing your lord and saviour to a corporate logo, a corporation who most likely goes against Christ's teaching in their business practices, utterly offensive. I'm offended by it (in a way) and I'm an atheist. Yeah, on principle, I find it abhorrant to dishonour something you strongly believe in like that.
I love that! Maybe as Christians we can mimic the worst part of our society - i.e. branding and all associated BS! Why not just make really hot porn with advertisements for local churches interspersed?
rch
PS the word "interspersed" has nothing to do with porn even though it sounds like it does....
I find this post offensive. Without these amazing marketing techniques I would not be able to provide for my family. Don't you think that providing for your family is something Christ would want? It's not only something he wants for me, it's something he is doing for me - selling t-shirts!
Oh Lord!!
You have to be kidding! is this for real?
The theology that thinks of this stuff is about one flip chart deep!
That being said, this does say a great deal about our consumerist culture. Jesus, just an other brand.
Where are there products imported from? I would be disappointed to learn they're made in countries where everyday Christian's lives are on the line to bring us better commercial amusements.
made a typo: meant these instead of there.
I find this type of thing incredibly obnoxious.
Churchgoing kids always used to wear garbage like this when I was in school and it never ceased to amaze me as the Catholic kid, how I was "going to hell for worshipping saints and cookies" but reducing God in the flesh to another mass-marketed brand was all fine and dandy.
I love the Coca-Christ advert. Right now I am going to buy a huge billboard in King Cross Sydney and put it right here in flashing lights! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. Kyri-hubba-bubba. (that's the best i can do to transliterate tongues)
i once found condoms with a tract inside and jesus face printed on the tip. is this supposed to Prevent the ultimate evil of premarital sex? or remind people that christ is involved even in bed? if it weren't for the very serious tract i would have thought it was a joke. even though i am not a christian i was kind of offended.
These are just sooooooo tacky, they make me want to throw up. Bad theology, unimaginative rip-offs of popular culture, the whole nine yards. If you have to appeal to advertising logos and jingles to spread the gospel, you've failed.
If I had known about the two-for-one benefit of testamints, I would have traded in my TicTacs years ago and gotten God along with my fresh breath.
brilliant! love it all.
It is embarrassing to worship the Lord of all creation and to reduce our ambitions of creativity to stealing ad slogans and corporate logos.
I have always laughed at these. Even when I was a youth worker, I would die before I would put one of these on. I have some church shirts, but they're just a solid color and say "Casco Bay Community Church" with the address and a small lighthouse. This is not my church, we went there on a mission trip to help get it off the ground. You get my point though. I totally agree with you on this one.
I've always found these to be the lowest common denominator in terms of spiritualism. Why have a thougth in your head when you can wear a faux-clever t-shirt?
To be fair, this is hardly limited to Christian culture, and is pretty par for the course for youth culture in general. Liking something because it is "ironic" is not a substitute for actual wit.
Plus, as per Stanford, copyright infringment in the name of God somehow isn't copyright infringement?
yeah, so, one year as a 14 or 15 year old, i went to creation festival, and saw these really incredible christian shirts. i've never been able to shake the image. it's burned upon my brain.
http://www.shopinspirations.com/pages/apparel/tee/big/ts109_dothejew.htm
Do the Jew! At least you know they're circumcised.
Ugh!! I HATE this - reducing Christ to a brand name. These shirts make me cringe - I don't see them that often here in the Northeast, but I've seen them in "Christian" bookstores.
That site with the horrible "Do the Jew" shirt looks like it's satirizing itself - like it's an atheist site mocking "Christian" apparel.
Most of the t-shirts are done by one company, Kerusso. What's REALLY funny is the Copyright page on their website:
http://www.kerusso.com/AboutUs/Copyright.aspx
"Kerusso's trademarks and trade dress may not be used in connection with any product or service that is not a Kerusso product or service, in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among customers, or in any manner that disparages or discredits Kerusso. "
I SWEAR I'm not making this up.
"Report Copyright Infringement
Kerusso products help proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. From the sales of Kerusso products, the gospel is preached; charities and organizations are supported around the world; and jobs are directly or indirectly provided to hundreds of people and their families. When an individual, or another company, uses or sells our designs as their own; our livelihood, our reputation and our Mission is jeopardized.
Please help us stop others from illegally using or selling our copyrighted designs. If you find a garment or other product bearing a protected Kerusso design that doesn’t have the tag you see below, please phone us at 870-480-4556 or fill in the form below.
Thank you for helping us to protect the God-inspired products that our Creator has entrusted us to use in His kingdom."
No they did-ent!
That's hilarious! "God-inspired products that our Creator entrusted us to use"!
Thou shalt not steal (except for logos).
air jesus can jump higher than air jordan and that's no bull
Kind of like 'Wacky Packs'
I just finished reading the comic series Transmetropolitan, which may be best described as "Fear and Loathing in a Brave New World." Gonzo journalist Spider Jerusalem would surely identify the phenomena described here as the beginning of the hyper-commercialized religious iconography that infects his City.
wow who knew jesus goblins had something in common with raver club kids!
Hi my names Greg and ima Christian.
And all Gods people said: "Hi Greg!!"
Yeah my mom works at a lifeway and I see these shirts when I go visit. I always stroll over there to see all the new hip trendy apparell (not limited to shirts) Ive even heard of a "He's weiser" hat. Just to be clear that replaces Budweiser. My fave though is the one with Jesus written in AC/DC style with the lightning bolt for the S. Most hardcore evagies' wouldn't touch that one because of the bolt symbol so I was suprised to see it. Speaking of bolts, you GOT to have something on the Harry Potter revolt somewhere in here.
These are so horrible! I don't own any, but I am embarrassed all the same. I was at a Catholic Oktoberfest a couple of weeks ago, and a booth was selling the Coca-Cola Jesus shirts. I became Catholic because I thought they found this kind of thing profane and sacrilegious... Oh, boy!
What goes through a non-Christian's mind when they see one of these shirts or eat a Testamint?
This is amazing! I'm really wondering if all of these T-shirts are real. As a true fan of irony, I would have ordered a one of them XD My friend told me that in some of the elections in Brazil, Jesus ran for president. I believe, that's pretty the same story! Recently I promoted my company and we we worked with https://wow-how.com/logo-animation to create a new animated logo. I think, if Jesus did the same, he could have all the chances to win! LOL
Logos are simply graphic representations or symbols of a company name, trademark or abbreviation and are used for instant recognition. startup branding It is a good idea to keep it as simple as possible while creating logos designs.
Awesome article!
Nice post!
Thanks for sharing!
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