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The ad takes place in a rural church and plays on a service that celebrates the Bathurst 1000.
That drew the ire of one TV viewer who made a formal complaint to Ad Standards, forcing a review between the watchdog and Repco parent company GPC Asia Pacific.
The complaint read: “New ad for Repco Supercars. Sacrilegious and offensive to Christians! Why are Christians always targeted? Why not other religions? It’s s disgraceful!
“Ad takes place in a church and makes mockery of important aspects of the Christian religion. Other religions would be offended if their faith was treated in this manner.
“The ad I’m complaining about is offensive to God, Christian’s and the church. It is set in a Christian Church and the word Hallelujah is often used which is a word only used to worship God not for any other purpose. It is therefore blasphemous towards God and mocks God and the Christian faith.
“Please imagine the exact same ad set in a Muslim mosque. There would be an out cry of Muslim’s. It is not ok to therefore use the Christian faith instead.
“Every time this ad is on I feel very uncomfortable and quickly change the channel. It mocks Christ and christianity, singing hallelujah (which is A holy saying).”
GPC Asia Pacific was able to successfully argue its case through a lengthy response, centred on the idea that, “the ad never makes fun of religion – be that a specific religion, or even religion in general. The ad is filming in a non-denomination chapel, and is extensively set dressed with automotive references and racing memorabilia to ensure the context of the environment is automotive-based, not religion-based”.
The Ad Standards Community Panel determined that, “while the advertisement is a satirical representation of a religious figure, there is no language or imagery which humiliates, intimidates, incites hatred, contempt or ridicule towards, or depicts unfair or less favourable treatment of the believers or followers of religion”.
Other Supercars-related ads have been viewed less favourably by Ad Standards, with the past two versions of Supercheap Auto’s Best Performing Oils campaign censored by the watchdog.
