The image I have chosen to critique is the atheist bus advertisements in Britain These advertisements caused much controversy and created a stir because they promoted anti-Christian statements. What these advertisements carried on them was "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." These advertisements were started when a British comedy writer named Ariane Sherine saw a Christian ad on a bus and thought it was a good idea to propose making advertisements that sent the compete opposite message to them. She wrote a comment piece about this idea and to her surprise it attracted the attention of a British political blogger, named Jon Worth. Worth and Sherine then set up a pledge bank together to get these advertisements displayed. Enough people signed up for the pledge bank and in October, 2008 these atheist bus advertisements were launched in Britain.
[...] Although, like everything in this world, there were some flaws with the image, overall it was successful and meaningless and most definitely leaves an impression on every person that sees it regardless of how each individual interprets it in their own personal way. This image went against what is considered to be society's norms in questioning the existence of God, however, they presented it in a clever and savvy way in which they were not completely dismissing or putting down His existence, just simply presenting the [...]
[...] Their stance is that you only have one life and there is no point in worrying so much about upsetting a God that you believe might not exist; just fully enjoy every aspect of life while you still have it. This is exemplified through the “stop worrying and enjoy your part of the advertisements. Also atheists believe, unlike Christians, that there is no after life, so you should enjoy your one chance at existence to its fullest extent and not have to worry about how everything relates back to your religious beliefs. [...]
[...] Everyone has their own personal beliefs and every person uses these to interpret and analyze these advertisements based on these prior beliefs. If religion never existed, than these advertisements would just go by unnoticed and would be therefore rendered meaningless, however, because of people's prior knowledge and personal beliefs when it comes to religion, they will then interpret and analyze this image in a personal way. “Blasphemy is about impure crossings from one side of the sacred profane divide to the other; about juxtaposing the sacred and the profane in times and places where they are expected to be kept separate; of twisting the profane so that its appears sacred, or making the sacred appear profane,” (Plate 60) and that is exactly what the purpose and role that the atheist bus advertisements play. [...]
[...] Television shows such as South Park and Family Guy and movies such as Dogma have helped in bringing more of a sense of humor to religion based topics. Obviously there are still people out there who are not amused by the mockery of their religion; however, people are more accepting of it than they have ever been. If these advertisements had been released approximately forty years ago, there probably would have been a huge uproar and they would have most likely been banned. [...]
[...] Purple is used for the sentence “There's probably no Red is used for the part that says stop worrying,” and yellow is used for the enjoy your part. Each color represents its own message, which is why the use of these colors is significant due to the visual syntax of the advertisements. They would not be as noticeable or stand out as much as if they were all the same color and it especially helps in emphasizing that there are three separate messages in the overall statement, the advertisements are making. [...]
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