Jesus Christ As A Pinup? Marketing Companies Offering ‘Sexy Jesus’ Calendar, Selfies With Jesus

Two London ad agencies may just be crossing the line by using Jesus Christ as a marketing ploy.

In what is sure to be a controversial move, Anomaly London is offering a “Sexy Jesus” calendar. The calendar features 13 images – one on the cover and one for each month – of a bare-chested, buff model with a beard and flowing hair. Although most of the images show Jesus in various provocative poses and wearing in a robe or cloth slung low on his waist, there are also images of Christ dressed as a fireman and lifeguard. All of the pictures feature “cheeky” captions, such as the one below.

The Inquisitr recently reported the backlash from Christians to a Family Guy episode’s depiction of Jesus tying to lose his virginity, but some may find this calendar even more offensive. The calendar was just posted for sale on the web earlier this week, and so far there have been no negative reactions to it, but it remains to be seen what will happen when people find out it is available.

Not to be outdone, a rival agency, Mother, brought TMZ’s “Hollywood Jesus” to London to wander the streets and offer selfie opportunities to pedestrians.

According to the Independent, Mother flew Kevin Lee Light, a Jesus impersonator who walks the streets of L.A., to London as a “Christmas stunt.” The agency then sent out a video and press release announcing they had acquired Jesus Christ as a client.

“MOTHER SIGNS CULT CHRISTMAS FIGURE, JESUS AS CLIENT”

“Jesus has flown in this week from his home in Los Angeles, where he is a cult figure and celebrity. He has been a regular feature on TMZ for the last five years and a chance encounter with him inspired Aerosmith’s Steve Tyler to write the song Street Jesus. Snoop Dogg is also a massive fan.”

http://youtu.be/O7Rn-dQo53I

Since his arrival, Light has been well-received by Londoners, and Jesus sightings and selfies have begun showing up on Twitter under #IfoundJesusinLondon.

This actually just happened. #ifoundjesusinlondon pic.twitter.com/sWAe8urxxg

— Dave Wibberley (@davewibberley) December 16, 2014

#ifoundjesusinlondon pic.twitter.com/LRWPFdfRTd

— Matthew (@MatthewHalll) December 16, 2014

Mother spokesperson Sasha Markova told Fast Company that the reaction Hollywood Jesus gets in his hometown inspired them to bring him to London.

“Every Christmas, Mother sits down to have a big idea and there was a relief this year, in just stripping it back to the original idea of Christmas, putting it out on the streets and seeing what would happen. Everybody in L.A. has their own L.A. Jesus story. We were quite struck by those reactions to him and wanted to bring that over to London to see what would happen. It’s been amazing to watch and now it’s exploding beyond our grasp. Everybody has their own idea of Jesus and this Jesus seems to be reflecting it back at them. Londoners are just as thrilled to see it as Los Angelenos.”

What do you think of these ad agencies’ using Jesus Christ as a marketing ploy? Do you find it offensive?

[Images via sexyjesus.org and The Independent]