It should go without saying that truly hip, happening and now Christians use Macs. Those that don't believe in penance - they use PCs because they want to suffer their way into a better place in heaven. (Actually, really really hip Christians use Ubuntu on any dang personal computer they want, but that's a story for another time.)
With that out of the way, let me cut to the substance of this post. Some Christians Christ-followers thought it would be kewl to steal Mac Creative to attack Christians. (Actually, Ad Agency creative but let's not split hairs.)They've taken stolen the I'm a Mac, I'm a PC creative, right down to the music to create the I'm a Christ-follower, I'm a Christian "commercials".
Better theological minds than mine (Michael and Joel) take the ads apart from a theological perspective. I just want to deal with the theft aspect - which is exacerbated by the hip, happening and now church offering their stolen creative for $9.95. (Have your credit cards ready. Operators are standing by.)
Community Christian Church (odd, shouldn't they be Community Christ-follower Church) refers to the ads as parodies. They aren't. A parody pokes fun or ridicule at the original. This is a parody. (UPDATE: There is reasonable debate that parody can mean using elements from one work of art to parody something else other than the work of art being used. My argument in this post doesn't hang on the definition of parody in my not-so-humble opinion. I have removed the heading on this paragraph, however.)
Community Christ-follower Church has taken the Mac creative, lock, stock and two smoking barrels, and used it to proclaim how hip they are in comparison to (other?) Christians. They've got the white background, camera cuts, Casio keyboard music and "witty reparté" down almost perfectly. (The lighting and colour correction is better on the Mac ads.)
CCC smugly claims,
You will laugh out loud watching this parody of the popular Apple v PC commercials. Armed with his rule books, morality plays, Christian bumper sticker collection, and a trusty King James Version Bible in a leather case, a holier-than-thou Christian trades questions with unassuming Christ-follower.
Hey guys, just wanted you to know that I didn't LOL at all. I just thought of how creatively bankrupt you were that you'd steal someone else's intellectual property to make fun of other Christians.
Oh. Sorry. I forgot. You guys aren't Christians. You're Christ-followers. How totally kewl, dudes.
(Please note, when I use the term steal in this post I use it in the theft sense - not the Pablo Picasso sense where "bad artists copy, good artists steal.")
UPDATE: Read Joel Hunter's further comments at BHT and follow the links. Some of them elevated my rather sedate blood pressure.
UPDATE 2: Joel has further thoughts @ the BHT.
Technorati Tags: Community Christian Church, I'm a Mac, iMonk, intellectual property theft, Joel Hunter, parody
