Via Copyranter, here’s a (probably parody) ad for United Colors of Benetton that’s bound to raise some hackles.
Funny how a campaign built around the idea of reducing levels of hatred in our society has this absurdly ironic tendency of drawing so much controversy. And it’s not like this stuff is unprecedented — just search the internet for “slash fiction” and you’ll find that absolutely nothing is sacred and absolutely no fictional universe can get away without gay fan fiction. It’s like a corollary to Rule 34.
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ladydreamgirl
January 28, 2012 at 10:50 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’ve seen that around the interwebs, I do hope they got the artists permission though. People sharing their work over the internet really don’t need the discouragement of having people steal their work.
Jason Thibeault
January 28, 2012 at 10:51 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Oh, is that not original? Hmm. That makes me wonder whether this is an actual Benetton ad after all.
Jason Thibeault
January 28, 2012 at 10:52 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Commenters at Copyranter identified it as not original too. I’m strongly suspecting this is a parody of the campaign.
Which is actually a huge shame.
ladydreamgirl
January 28, 2012 at 10:55 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Yeah, visually I actually think it’s much nicer than the actual ones using photos, but hey I’m one of those wacky slash fans (for certain values of slash).
Irreverend Bastard
January 28, 2012 at 1:17 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Here’s the original:
http://heimaey.us/post/4213222263/jesus-and-satan-sitting-in-a-tree-k-i-s-s-i-n-g
T-shirt worthy.
WMDKitty
January 28, 2012 at 9:32 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
DAMN. That is seriously … YUM!
*wipes drool off chin*
opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces
January 29, 2012 at 11:57 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
It’d be nice if it didn’t have the crown of thorns, though – torturecult xianity is way too hardcore sadistic for my taste.
OTOH there’s some clever/funny/sweet Aziraphale/Crowley Good Omens slashfic out there somewhere … just sayin’.
Winterwind
January 31, 2012 at 5:46 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Could be just me, but I find it interesting that the artist seems to have incorporated some of the racist iconography found in traditional European Christian art. Perhaps they were drawing from real paintings?
To me, it looks as though Satan has darker hair/beard, large dark eyes and a larger nose compared with Jesus. Some traditional Christian art portrays Satan or Judas with stereotypical “Semitic features” in contrast to a blond or brunette Jesus, no doubt reflecting the prejudices of its creators. (I recently saw an exhibition on Renaissance art from Northern and Central Italy, featuring painters such as Rafael, and I noticed that all the images of the Madonna and Child depicted Jesus and Mary with blond, brown or red hair – no black. I checked.)
Ironic because Jesus was supposed to be Middle Eastern, so presumably he should look the same as Satan. Apart from the magic pointy ears and horns, which come from Pan/Faunus.