So says the city of Chicago in booting ads for The Nativity Story from the Christkindlmarket, a downtown Christmas festival. The city says the ads might offend non-Christians. What, are they flushing Korans in the ads?
"The last time I checked, the first six letters of Christmas still spell out Christ," said Paul Braoudakis, spokesman for the Barrington, Ill.-based Willow Creek Association, a group of more than 11,000 churches of various denominations. "It's tantamount to celebrating Lincoln's birthday without talking about Abraham Lincoln."
It does seem bizarre that there would be a Christmas festival where a Christmas movie was banned. But, according to city officials, Christmas must offend non-Christians (who would have guessed?).
"Our guidance was that this very prominently placed advertisement would not only be insensitive to the many people of different faiths who come to enjoy the market for its food and unique gifts, but also it would be contrary to acceptable advertising standards suggested to the many festivals holding events on Daley Plaza," Jim Law, executive director of the office, said in a statement.
I think I could understand the sentiment if we were talking about an old movie or a cartoon that portrays semitic people badly (like The Little Drummer Boy). But this is a new movie coming out specifically for the Christmas season. Is this any different from any other movie advertising at a city event?
An executive vice president with New Line Cinema, Christina Kounelias, said the studio's plan to spend $12,000 in Chicago was part of an advertising campaign around the country. Kounelias said that as far as she knew, the Chicago festival was the only instance where the studio was turned down.
Kounelias said she finds it hard to believe that non-Christians who attended something called Christkindlmarket would be surprised or offended by the presence of posters, brochures and other advertisements of the movie.
"One would assume that if (people) were to go to Christkindlmarket, they'd know it is about Christmas," she said.
Not if you're a city official, I guess.
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