It's out Friday, I think I'll see it
CHICAGO (AP) - A public Christmas festival is no place for the Christmas story, the city says. Officials have asked organizers of a downtown Christmas festival, the German Christkindlmarket, to reconsider using a movie studio as a sponsor because it is worried ads for its film "The Nativity Story" might offend non-Christians.
New Line Cinema, which said it was dropped, had planned to play a loop of the new film on televisions at the event. The decision had both the studio and a prominent Christian group shaking their heads.
"The last time I checked, the first six letters of Christmas still spell out Christ," said Paul Braoudakis, spokesman for the Barrington, Ill.-based Willow Creek Association, a group of more than 11,000 churches of various denominations. "It's tantamount to celebrating Lincoln's birthday without talking about Abraham Lincoln."
He also said that there is a nativity scene in Daley Plaza - and that some vendors at the festival sell items related to the nativity.
The city does not want to appear to endorse one religion over another, said Cindy Gatziolis, a spokeswoman for the Mayor's Office of Special Events. She acknowledged there is a nativity scene, but also said there will be representations of other faiths, including a Jewish menorah, all put up by private groups. She stressed that the city did not order organizers to drop the studio as a sponsor.
"Our guidance was that this very prominently placed advertisement would not only be insensitive to the many people of different faiths who come to enjoy the market for its food and unique gifts, but also it would be contrary to acceptable advertising standards suggested to the many festivals holding events on Daley Plaza," Jim Law, executive director of the office, said in a statement.
Officials with the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, which has organized the event for several years, did not immediately return calls for comment. The festival started Thursday.
An executive vice president with New Line Cinema, Christina Kounelias, said the studio's plan to spend $12,000 in Chicago was part of an advertising campaign around the country. Kounelias said that as far as she knew, the Chicago festival was the only instance where the studio was turned down.
Kounelias said she finds it hard to believe that non-Christians who attended something called Christkindlmarket would be surprised or offended by the presence of posters, brochures and other advertisements of the movie.
"One would assume that if (people) were to go to Christkindlmarket, they'd know it is about Christmas," she said.
<--------- anticipating another "it's the Christmas season so let's talk about how Christians are persecuted when society failes to fully embrace at all levels how we'd like Christmas to be celebrated and i'm offended when someone offers me 'happy holidays' or 'seasons greetings' instead of 'merry christmas' so there" FYM Thread.
Even though I am definitely not into foisting/forcing or excluding anyone, some things still seem silly and overly pc in that regard to me. I honestly don't see how anyone at that specific event would have been offended by that. You can pick and choose what you want to look at at that market I would assume. If I went to something like that and there were ads for Muslim or any any other faith movies, I couldn't care less.
Dog lovers may not want to read the following, but...a friend of mine's Border Collie was killed by a badger last year--they'd gone out for a nocturnal jog, it ran across their path and the poor dog made the mistake of impulsively charging it (to "herd" it) before my friend could call him away (he didn't have him on a leash, unfortunately). It actually tore his dog's head off! They are VERY strong animals and can be utterly vicious if provoked, at least the species we have here in the US--I'd recommend giving it a wide berth should you ever encounter one!
