I date an advertising person. It's all about instant-recognition, reality doesn't matter as long as you can get people to go "hey look, it's Jesus!"

Would it be okay if it was an Asian kid sitting on his lap? LOL

yeah it always makes me wonder why they make Jesus white with blue eyes. i personally don't like it. i just think if they're trying to spark discussions, and give people the right message they should at least convey the message correctly.

I don't think the church is saying that Jesus IS a blue-eyed brunette. But let's face it, that is the "accepted" image of Jesus. But if this is what you're focusing on, you're missing the point of the ad. It's not to give more credence to the white Jesus idea, it's to point out the lack of Jesus in Christmas these days.

If you want to know what Christ Jesus our Lord looked like, read Isaiah 53 verses 3 -7 It will surprise you, and no one knows what He looks like.

Thanks for the input folks -

A few comments in return:
Jesus, for me is not Lord. The book of Isaiah has 3 authors - it is a human constructed narrative that tells me nothing about what Jesus might or might not have looked like - since the authors were not discussing Jesus when they constructed their stories.

Christmas has actually very little to do with Jesus - he wasn't there when the Roman festival of Mithra's was appropriated by the Early Christan church - when Jesus was "sold" to Roman society. We live with / celebrate many Roman pagan festivals that have nothing to do with Christianity at their roots - it was handy to have Jesus and a few stories around (Matthew and Luke only) that could be overlayed onto Roman customs and traditions. What we've created around Jesus is no greater myth than a shopping trip to the mall.
JM

Be nice now. Why don't you try this little trick everytime you see a "picture" of Jesus that is not portryed the way you have Him visioned in your beliefs. Picture Him in your own head as a silouette with a bright, colourless light shinning through the image and don't put a face to Him. Afterall, when you get right down to the nuts & bolts of existence: Aren't we all from the "same" Entity in some form or another? Think of Jesus as a "soulman" and sing the tune if you have to, guaranteed to put a true smile on your face from here on in...just a thought!

Who actually knows what Jesus looks like anyway? To me the ad is just an iconic image of Jesus that is as "fake" as the Mall Santas...they all don't look the same, but we know who it's supposed to be.

Nobody knows what Jesus looked like while he was on this earth. As human beings we like to see Jesus in our image. So of course an ad agency in Canada would portray Jesus as white with blue eyes.

We see lots of pictures of Jesus as thin and pale. People from the middle east are not pale. Before Jesus began his eartly ministry, Jesus also worked as a carpenter where they did all their work by hand. I doubt he was thin. To me, a man of African decent, it does not matter.

What matters is that he died to save me from my sins!

Hello!
Hanging on my Grandmothers wall for as long as I can remember was the picture of Jesus with fair skin, blue eyes and brown hair. Most Nativity scenes show the fair skinned trio too. When I grew and learned about climate, I realised that this is not how they likely looked. Kinda like how St. Nicolos likely wasn't a fat guy in a red suit with little elves in green outfits following him around with his sleigh, but it is what people recognise.

I think the ad does an excellent job at making you think. It uses a universally recognized, and controversial image of Jesus to spark attention and conversation. I don't think it really matters what He looked like personally: dark skinned, fair skinned, red skinned, blonde, brunette; that never has and never will define a persons meaning in the world.

I have a great image of Jesus I carry with me... in highschool we produced Godspel (the musical) one year and the guy who played Jesus was a redhead. Not just a redhead though.. he had long red curly locks. He wore a superman shirt (tight) and rainbow suspenders. I've tried to shake this vision for years... but, lol, it still lurks in the religious image file of my wee brain. Aaaaaaaaah!

His eyes aren't blue in the ad. And his hair isn't red. But nice try.

I just talked with my partner about the whole ad thing and he told me that he thought it was supposed to be a guy dressed up as jesus, just like a guy dressed up as santa. The ad makes a bit more sense to me now.

Dear JM,,

I am thinking that maybe it satire...

Peace , GG

Hi Greengal,

maybe you are correct. I just hate the stereo-typing.

Wouldn't it be funny if we found out that Jesus looked more like Yasser Arafat than the blue-eyed Nordic type that we are accustomed to seeing.

Hey, at least we don't riot at the idea of showing a picture of Jesus.

Does it really matter what he looked like?

Probably really doesn't matter one little bit. It's funny, though, how many people have a lot invested in the conventional image of Jesus and become offended if you suggest otherwise.

YES! Yassir Arafat"¦or David ben Gurion! Or Prince Faud of Saudia Arabia. Oh, what a field day.

Moshe Dayan (one-eyed wonder)"¦the Lebanese butcher at our corner store!

I love it, and I agree. We have no idea, and he WAS a middle eastern man. He ain't honky! He brown"¦maybe even black. See the icon of Mary Magdalene holding the egg. She big time brown. Hoowah!

I just assumed it was supposed to represent someone "playing" Jesus (like "playing" Santa). However, I think it's funny / a little scary when people get bent out of shape because of their investment in what Jesus looked like. What difference could it possibly make?

From Jim Burke

Jesus description in a Roman letter from the Vatican Library.

I'm quoting from the book They Walked with Jesus by Dolores Cannon.
I'm not putting quotation marks in, so it is taken directly from
the book. Here it is.

In Jesus and the Essenes I quoted from The Archko Volume, a little-
known book written by Drs McIntoch and Twyman, printed in 1887.
These men had discovered written reports in the Vatican Library
dealing with Christ. One of these contained a description of Jesus
that remarkably coincides with the descriptions given by the
various subjects. After Jesus and the Essenes was printed I came
across another letter which contained a similar description.This
startling document was also discovered in the Vatican Library. It
was supposedly written to the Roman Senate at the time of Christ by
Publius Lentulus, then Roman proconsul in Judaea, a predecessor and
friend of Pontius Pilate. The following is his description of
Jesus.

This is a man of noble and well-proportioned stature, with a face
full of kindness and firmness, so that the beholders both love him
and fear him. His hair is the colour of wine (probably tawny) and
golden at the root- straight and without lustre- but from the level
of the ears curling and glossy, and divided down the centre after
the fashion of the Nazarenes.
His forehead is even and smooth. His face without blemish and
enhanced by a tempered bloom; his countenance ingenuous and kind;
his beard full, of the same colour as his hair, and forked in form;
his eyes blue and extremely brilliant.
In reproof and rebuke he is formidable; in exhortation and
teaching gentle and amiable of tongue. None have seen him to laugh,
but many, of the contrary, to weep. His person is tall; his hands
beautiful and straight. In speaking he is deliberate and grave and
little given to loquacity; in beauty surpassing most men.

If we met Jesus of 2000 years ago on the street, would be reognise him. Or better yet, would he recognize himself?

Yeah, JM you got a point. Jesus was a "middle-eastern" man, He could be a little dark in the pictures and statues depicted of him. I never seen a picture or anything of Jesus Christ, where he was dark. It was always the same, blue eyes, brown hair, super white skin, like he hasn't been out the in the sun in years.
It's just something that the europeans when first getting the religion, i guess, And now the North American, and well the rest of the christian society believes.
I guess you can't really change it now.

JM,

Hi,

You asked:

Was this guy used because a 'middle-eastern' looking man was not available for the Campaign ... OR is our society afraid of seeing a Jesus who looks like an Israeli-Arab man?

Well that certainly paints the United Church in nefarious tones doesn't it. Imagine our complicity in promoting the image of Jesus as European.

Except I doubt that is what is going on at all.

The question the ad is asking is not, what do you think Jesus really looked like--it is not attacking the image of Jesus.

It is attacking the commercialization of Christmas and to do so effectively one needs to attack a commercial image with something that is also commercial.

It isn't Santa at the mall it is Jesus at the mall.

Why the stereotypical Jesus? Well he is taking on the stereotypical Santa and that is the battle in the ad. Jesus vs Santa not European vs Middle-Eastern.

The ad is directed at folk who deal with stereotypes and it needs those stereotypes to raise the awareness that it is intending to raise.

To plunk an obviously middle-eastern man in Santa's chair would likely lead to a confusion of message and that would cause the ad to be ineffective. The ad works because the majority of folk understand who the dude in the chair is supposed to be.

I mean, even though you argue against the image you still got it didn't you?

Grace and peace to you.

John

According to author William Harwood ~ "A medieval writer, [the Jewish historian] Josephus described Jesus as an old-looking man, balding, stooped, with joined eyebrows and approximately 135 cm (4ft 6 in.) tall. This is based on the standard 46 cm. long regular cubit -- an ancient unit of distance. Using the 53 cm. special cubit, Jesus' height would have been about 156 cm (5ft 1in.)."~

It is a fact that people living in the 1st century CE were shorter than we are today ~ but the 'uni-brow ?~ not in my vision of Jesus ;)

Oh the white skinned Jesus with blue eyes and rock star good looks"¦I know that one! It is Michaelangelo's fault some here because 5 centuries ago he was commissioned to paint his image and he used his "lily-white cousin as a sitting model."

I don't remember where I may have seen this but it went like this; "It does not matter what Jesus looks like, it matters what he did. Great, than can we make him black than?"

Did you hear the stink made about the black Santa's in the mall (US)? We seem to have a wider acceptance of Jesus being brown skinned (historical overview) but don't dare mess with Santa Clause!

"The evidence of Yeshua (Jesus) being Black is overwhelming. Many in the Black community believe that the Messiah was black because of the area of the world in which he lived. The so-called Middle East is actually part of Africa divided from the rest of the continent by the man made Suez Canal. Many believe that the Hebrews living in this area two thousand years ago were people of color as it would have been virtually impossible for anyone to live in Northern Africa and have a pale complexion."

I don't know well enough to truly say but thank goodness for the creation of Cabbage Patch Dolls anyway!