This is insane.
Christian pastor Greg Laurie was forced to remove his billboard ads because the company he hired to run the ads received complaints. Why? Because the ads showed Laurie holding a Bible.
Totally not kidding:
CBN NEWS – Evangelist Greg Laurie has been forced to take down a series of billboards depicting him holding a Bible at a popular mall in Southern California.
Laurie and Harvest Crusade contracted Irvine Company, a real estate company in Southern California, to advertise the upcoming SoCal Harvest. The event will be held August 17-19 at Angel Stadium and is expected to draw tens of thousands of people. The company agreed to post large billboards promoting the crusade at Fashion Island, a prestigious outdoor mall in the center of Orange County.
However, after claiming the religious imagery on the ads provoked multiple complaints, including a “serious threat,” the Irvine Company reportedly mandated the billboards be modified. Harvest complied with the request and resubmitted new ad artwork without the image of the Bible. Ultimately however, the changes were not enough to resolve the situation as the Irvine Company’s decided to completely remove all the advertisements and billboards for the crusade.
He’s a photo of the ad:
How do they know it’s not a Webster’s dictionary? Or a book on gardening? It’s not even marked:
“There was nothing overtly religious about it,” John Collins, Harvest Executive Director told CBN News.
The Bible depicted in Laurie’s hand did not have a cross, religious symbols, or even the word “Bible” on it.
“We changed it to a more simplified ad that simply said ‘Harvest,’ giving the dates and some of the musical artists that are going to be with us. Then they came back and said they just wanted the ads completely removed and they refunded us,” he explained.
CBN News attempted to contact Irvine Company officials for comment on this story, but did not receive a response back prior to publication. However, the contract between the business and Laurie reads, “Management reserves the right to not display any materials that could be constructed as vulgar or offensive.”
I mean seriously, who complains about something like this? It’s a Christian pastor holding a Bible. That’s it. There is absolutely nothing offensive on the ad whatsoever. And nobody is forcing anyone to go to Laurie’s SOCAL Harvest. Just ridiculous.
And even more seriously, what kind of crappy advertising company backs down because of complaints about something that is just as American as apple pie? I just don’t get it. It almost makes me think a big client for Irvine Company complained or something, because what else would be taken this seriously?
I know this may not rank very high on the cultural rot totem poll, but as CBN News suggests in their title, I do agree this is a sign of the times. Pretty soon, Big Tech is going to be banning people for having pictures of crosses and Bibles on their social media sites or something. I know, that sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s probably not.