catapult magazine

Has anyone seen the new ad campaign rebuking people for driving SUV’s? It ends with “What would Jesus drive?” and quotes scripture here and there throughout the commercial.

I just saw a portion of the commercial on BBC World news and almost choked from laughing so hard. Apparently there’s a website with the same message but I haven’t found it yet.

Good to know.

I just hope this ad campaign doesn’t get mixed up with some of those terrible anti-smoking, anti-drug campaigns—you know, the ones that say you’re a murderer if you smoke one joint. Wasn’t there one anti-SUV commercial that said buying an SUV makes you a supporter of terrorism?

A late comment on an old topic:
In the 1960s, we environmentally-minded folks (mostly secular at the time, because the religious communities hadn?t yet taken any interest in the environment) thought we could save the world by doing away with styrofoam cups, and drinking our coffee from reusable mugs. Obviously, it was too small a gesture to really do any good, yet the symbolism was strong, and 40 years later some folks are a little embarrassed when caught using a throwaway cup. The cup calls attention to the fact that we are all wasteful, and our wastefulness has consequences that are collectively far greater than we might immediately imagine. The styrofoam cup symbol came to represent mountains of barely-biodegradable garbage that would be with us essentially forever; unwise use of dangerous chemicals used in their manufacture, and released into the soil and water as they began to break down; and the utter selfishness and wastefulness of using and disposing of materials that we didn?t need to use in the first place.

The ?what would Jesus drive? campaign aimed at the same concerns. I think they were ineffective because they were too easily lampooned, and because what Jesus would do didn?t really resonate with most of the United States population (even though we are supposed to be a ?Christian nation?). Still, it would be wise for Christians and everybody to consider the message behind the message. SUVs are wasteful to buy and wasteful to drive. Perhaps 1 in 10,000 people who own a SUV really need what a SUV offers. Drastically cutting back on the building and purchase of SUVs won?t save the world any more than rejecting styrofoam cups will, but the symbolism is strong. It would be a good ?first step.?

Perhaps Jesus would have “driven” a bicycle, maybe a Schwinn Galaxy, instead of a car. For those long distance trips he would have ridden Amtrak to Damascus or the desert.