Thursday, December 04, 2008

Christ and the Tui ads

Most New Zealanders will know of the Tui ads, those clever billboards that have a short statement followed by the ironical/sarcastic, 'Yeah, right.' 'Yeah, right' is a Kiwi being typically laconic.

In the pre-Christmas period, Tui put up one of their latest signs: Let us take a moment this Christmas to think about Christ. Yeah, right. As you might expect it upset a few people around the country (most of them probably weren't Tui drinkers). But Richard Gray, the minister at the First Presbyterian Church in Invercargill (the billboard appeared across the road from his church), said people need to get a sense of humour.

Perhaps some people were upset because the statement is too close to the truth (as most of the Tui ads are). Many around the country won't be thinking twice about Christ at Christmas. In fact there'll be a few who'd be offended at the idea that they should.

Richard, for instance, has come up with a Tui sign of his own. It reads: Drinking Tui in 4008! Yeah right. JC.
Rather than taking this as an offensive statement, wouldn't it be better for Christians to use it as a starting point to talk about Christ and Christmas?

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