Don't fuck with the Jesus:
Film studio 20th Century Fox has launched a massive marketing campaign in US religious communities for the DVD of The Passion of the Christ. The studio has sent e-mails to more than six million Christian households, according to The New York Times.
It has also sent 260,000 postcards to churches offering bulk batches of the film, the newspaper reports.
Orders for the Mel Gibson-produced film are 20% ahead of projections, said Fox. The DVD is out in the US on 31 August.
This sounds like the same bulk buying strategy used by right wing groups to get Michelle Malkin's book to the top of the bestseller lists. At least in this case, the movies will actually end up in someone's house. Did you volunteer at the church bazaar? Have a DVD. Erase the dirty words from the missals? Have a DVD. Pay hush money to that altar boy's family? Have a DVD.
Fox has also urged church leaders to persuade their parishioners to buy individual copies too.
One man called Fox hoping to buy 100,000 copies, Fox executive Steve Feldstein told The New York Times.
Fox have also distributed 10,000 limited-edition lithographs depicting Jesus and other religious images to church officials.
Jesus swag is nothing new, but you've got to give Gibson and Fox credit for elevating the distribution strategy to such impressive levels. In addition to Passion merchandising, the market for Christian t-shirts, action figures (check out Job), and entertainment media is growing at a frightening pace. It's no longer enough to half-ass it, apparently. Or to paraphrase David Mamet, the rapture is for closers.
For now, I'll just savor the irony of religious leaders promoting the purchase and ownership of a hyperviolent R-rated film.
The crucifixes made outta nails really did it for me.
Ever wonder what would have happened if the Romans were a little less cruel and used beheading instead of crucifixion? The implications for jewelry merchants are staggering...
I especially like how the forces of capitalism and naked greed allow me to "order my very own Jesus."
Now you too can have the power of Christ in your home for only $6.95 (shipping not included, of course).
Perfect.
Great link, Pete.
Pete
I don't mind hyper-violent films. Hell, I make a point to see some of them. What I do mind is "alleged" christians cashing in on Jesus. First off, Jesus kicked over the money changing table at his local temple back in the day because he was sickened with the temple's greed and profit motive. Second, I do recall him saying something or other about it being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to get into heaven.
Either way, I'm pissed. Because either decent christians are ignoring some pretty obvious scripture, or they are just faking it and capitalizing on the market share christians represent. Either way, someone isn't getting the big picture.
Course, try and tell that to some of these zealots and somehow *I'm* the sinner and non-believer. I guess if I'm not all for blowing up abortion clinics, constitutional bans on gay weddings, and raining laser-guided bombs onto hapless Iraqis, I'm not worthy of Jesus' love.
There's something profoundly smirk-inducing in seeing Mary depicted as an "action" figure.
I'm just sayin'.
I'm willing to bet $50, right here & now, that Jesus could kick Mel's butt.
But if it's a cage match between William Wallace, Aragorn, Darth Vader, and Jesus - all bets are off.
Mel needs to combine the religion with Star Wars in some manner for maximized merchandising appeal. Wait a minute, compare this with this! Obi-Wan = Moses + a piece of brown felt! I feel an entirely new theory about the direction of Episode III coming on!