New Zealand is down with Atheist Buses
A New Zealand ad proclaiming that “there’s probably no God” attracted just one complaint, several months after a similar campaign became the sixth-most complained about ad in the UK in 2009.
New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority received a single complaint about The Humanist Society of New Zealand campaign, which deliberately mirrors the British Humanist Association’s “There’s probably no God” campaign.
The complainant argued that the ads were offensive and made a mockery of the Christian faith. The ASA acknowledged that, while the complainants concerns were sincere, the ads did not contravene standards.
The single complaint contrasts starkly with the 392 complaints that its British counterpart received. The UK ad was a riposte to a bus-side ad by The Christian Party which told consumers that “There Definitely is a God”.
The latter won the dubious honour of becoming 2009′s most complained about ad.
Note: Actually the original genesis of the BHA’s Atheist Buses was a response to ads from jesussaid.org, and the Christian Party ads were a response to the response…!
