After learning the Freethought Association of Canada may soon be running its so-called “atheist ads” on public transit in Canada, the United Church of Canada has jumped on the opportunity to add its voice to an increasingly public debate.
The Freethought ad, which was approved to run on public transit in Toronto on Wednesday, reads “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
The United Church of Canada’s ad will run the same copy but will also include the line “There’s probably a God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” with a checkbox beside each option. “Join the Discussion at WonderCafe.ca” appears at the bottom of the ad which will run nationally online and in Saturday’s The Globe and Mail.
The Freethought ad “provides us with an opportunity to start a discussion,” said Rev. Keith Howard, executive director of the church’s Emerging Spirit program. “That’s what we’ve been about in our media presence over the last two or three years. We’re trying to say there are some important questions before us as individuals and a society that we need to talk about.”
In 2006, the church launched the Emerging Spirit campaign with ads asking whether a bobble-headed Jesus doll was “funny” or a “ticket to hell,” and another that asked “How much fun can sex be before it’s a sin?”
The Church has no plans to run the ad in transit directly alongside Freethought’s ad, although that possibility is being considered.
“We’ve already looked at the costs of a transit campaign in Toronto, Calgary and Halifax where the atheist ads are supposed to be running,” said Malcolm Roberts, principal at Smith Roberts Creative Communication, the church’s agency of record. “But if we create enough noise in this burst, we may not have to spend the money for the transit.”
Smith Roberts has also tapped its PR partner, FlexPR, to drive a public relations campaign for the new initiative.
Roberts also expressed concern that running the ad next to the Freethought ad may blur the messages and their intent. Other media, such as free daily newspapers like Metro, may be used to keep the ads in close proximity without muddying the waters.
