Well, I'm glad you cleared that up. ;-)

Yeah, I'm trying to be much firmer in my convictions in 2005.

You'll have noticed by now a brief comment on your post which greatly clarifies my stance on the issue. Or not. ;-)

And I tried to answer your response too.

Eric, there's no "may" about it ... it IS stealing ... maybe.

Did the manufacturers obtain Coca-Cola's consent for the use of the distinctive combination of font and colors that constitute a significant portion of their brand?

If the answer is 'yes,' then it's fine. If the answer is 'no,' then it's not.

As for the bad taste part ... I don't know.

Almost from the beginning, the Christian church has practiced some degree of appropriation as it grew, entered new lands, and incorporated some aspects of the old religious practices in those lands.

Is this just the latest in that tradition?

So Coca-Cola is a religious system? ;-)

Seriously, appropriating religious symbols of other traditions is syncretism, and something that's generally frowned on outside the Catholic Church (/sarcasm). I highly doubt that the t-shirt company got coke's permission, unless they have a person dedicated to also getting the permissions of Mountain Dew, John Deere, NASCAR, Abercrombie and Fitch, Tide, Reeses, Harley Davidson ... you get the picture.

I worked for a Christian youth organization that does this regularly. Their legal department checked into it and there are ways to do this legally and there are specific guidelines to follow. The point is that you can "parody" something, but it needs to be changed by about 30% of the total image.

Jen, thanks for the insight. I've always wondered how these guys got away with this practice. That's quite interesting.

I think a lot of these folks get away with it not because they are following the law, but because no corporation in its right mind is going to sue a Christian ministry over appropriating its brand.

Whether it's legal or not isn't even my issue. I could debate whether it *should* be legal, but I'd rather say it's tacky, unimaginative and doesn't live up to the standards we should aspire to as Christians trying to get our message out.

I mean, we're doing the same thing Mad Magazine does, only with a different product. :-)

...no corporation in its right mind is going to sue a Christian ministry over appropriating its brand.

I dare you to test that theory by putting a half-bitten apple in Eve's hand and urging people to "Think Different...Think Jesus!" I'm willing to bet that Apple Inc.'s testy band of humorless lawyers will swarm you faster than you can say Jumpin' Jehoshaphat! ;-)

Well, Eric, given the origin of Apple's logo, I'd suggest the church could argue first rights. ;-)

Apple has already forced a very different religious group take down their think different poster as well as their "Made with Macintosh" Web badge. No money was being made, Apple simply didn't like the association.

Jen's already beaten me to the punchline. Parody is not theft.

...and tacky is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I think parody brands are a clever way of introducing Christianity to people who (thanks largely to the mainstream media's influence on "pop culture") have an instantly negative reaction to an overtly Christian symbol or message.

If you wear explicitly Christian themed clothing, many people "turn off" their reasoning and respond "as seen on TV". Automatic, unthinking derision. It's a reponse learned from sit-coms and dramas where Christians (especially enthusiastic fundamentalist Christians) are portrayed as bigoted zealots. Ugh. It's a "born again-Jesus freak". That's the instant (unthinking) response.

But just the opposite happens with parody "brand" clothing. It forces the viewer to think. If it's a clever parody, that "Huh? Oh!" moment will give them a smile, and that's a first step that normally doesn't happen.

Bryan, you, mentioned Reeses as a possible parody brand and it's already happened. Ask and you shall receive. ;-)

Mr. Freen,

I mentioned all the named brands above because I saw them already on an internet christian t-shirt site.

I have to say, I became a Christian at the ripe old age of 24, after living as an agnostic/atheist for a number of years. Seeing parody shirts like those I mention (including the coke/Jesus shirt, which has been around since at least the 1980s) just made me feel sorry for the folks wearing them.

Again, you can have shirts and slogans that aren't *explicitly* any more Christian than the "parody" shirts. Look at eric's fireant gazette merchandise. For that matter, consider the case of Veggie Tales. They took an idea mainstream evangelical publishing houses (including the southern baptists) wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole, and created a marketable brand that is implicitly Christian, but fun, original and creative.

Our problem is we've got too much "parody" (what I'll call intellectual laziness and theft of ideas) and not enough creativity.

As to the point that "parody is not theft," I'm again not so sure these people would be on the right side of that line. Remember that the Jerry Falwell ad in hustler was ruled a parody, but other cases have went the other way (I'd have to dig out my media law book to remember which ones). Until some company actually decided to take them to court, we won't know for certain. And again, no one is going to do that (including Apple).

On a non-legal aspect...the concept of borrowing from the "world" is an indication of a lack of originality. It makes Christians appear as if they can only borrow what's "cool", as if they were parasitic, or pathetic unoriginal artists. I'm not sure if this makes sense, but people crave what's original and unique.

Well, except for the lemmings. And all you have to do with them is direct them to the nearest cliff.

Bryan, I was introduced to "Veggie Tales" along with my boys, and Ilove them!

My favorite is "Madame Blueberry"

"hmmmm, is that the one with Jerry Lewis? ... No!"

:-)

Hey, guys, I've been out of pocket (at a Mac user group meeting) so I'm just now catching up, but you've been doing wonderfully in my absence. Great discussion.

I'm glad someone thrust Veggie Tales into the mix, as its an example of how Christian "marketing" can beat the secular at its own game. High quality, original, subtle-but-unmistakeable: these are all characteristic that the parodies often don't display (although I do like the "Jesus Inside" logo that Mr. Freen found).

The real question I'd ask of anyone who buys the Coke-ripoff type of merchandise is, "who are you wearing it for...other believers, or unbelievers?"

I must say, I'm highly attracted to that Fire Ant Gazette coffee mug you have selling there, Eric.

I also did some Christian corporate "branding" of my own later last evening at the blog. Just continuing the conversation.

...I'm highly attracted to that Fire Ant Gazette coffee mug...

You have a sharp eye for quality, amigo! ;-) Actually, the mugs do seem to be the thing CafePress does best. I've ordered samples of various items and the quality varies. In fact, I removed the license plate holder from the store due to its extreme cheesiness (it looks like someone uses a pair of scissors to cut rectangles from a vinyl bumper sticker which are then affixed to a generic plate holder).

I like your Enron parody! It would surely be a big seller in Houston...

BTW, when I click on your name, the URL gives an error message. I have to remove "/mt" before I can get to your site.

When I moved to WP, I had the /mt directory redirected, but that must have broken. it's just www.arguewithsigns.net now.

I particularly like the Enron one because the rainbow E is the antithesis of "eternal." :-)

I didn't even consider that aspect of your parody...excellent! (Another "E" word, of course...)

I read this post and comments with great interest. As a new Believer in the early 90's I was involved with a church whose pastor was one of the founders of the "Living Epistles" company that didi the whole tshirt thing and I though that then this was a rip off and hugky in poor taste... I knew it was the end when they did a shirt with budda on the cross and asked if he died for your sins. I was appalled and quit wearing the shirts I had and eventually the pastor sold his intrest in the firm ( I think that was it for him as well along with a lawsuit from Guess Jeans over the parody of their logo which a judge said was theft and fined the company 10 grand. They paid and Pastor Garry said count me out" They have folded and are no longer in business...

I dont think you need to market the gospel just talk about what Jesus has done for you... WE are the best marketing tools God has. He made us for this purpose!