Therion Ware wrote:

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:43:45 -0700 in alt.atheism, quibbler247
(quibbler247 <quibbler247@atyahoo.com>) said, directing the reply to
alt.atheism

I brought this up in another thread, but I thought this could use more
discussion. I've seen a commercial recently (on american tv) for the BMW
X5. They are trying to promote what they claim is a safer handling
system on their car called "xdrive".

But to do this they use an animation of these four angels who fly along
and "protect" the car. They don't explicitly say that these suckers are
angels, but they do have tiny wings, and are wearing tunics.
Here's a link that has some still and some quicktime pictures of what I'm
talking about.
http://www.hollywoodindustry.com/2003/11_nov/news/hornet1103.htm

Anyway, the lead "angel" is constantly barking orders to the others like
they were making a strafing run on the deathstar or something. Eventually
the leader gets splashed in the face with some mud and rather than being
tweaked off about it he says, "I love this job!" Assuming that he's not
being sarcastic, which is not how it sounds, one wonders how crappy
and boring heaven has to be for one to prefer getting splashed in the
face with mud and flying around in a drafty tunic :)

Of course, that's just the fun part. On a serious side, it is a little
troubling that BMW wants to pander to theists like this. Despite what
the above link says, the commercial itself very definitely is trying to
use theism to sell products -- a long ignoble tradition for xians in
particular.

I guess in some ways it seems appropriate. Theists are probably too dumb
to realize that they are even being pandered to. They probably think
this means that the folks at BMW are fundies, when really they just
want to use any technique to make a buck. Since most theists are mental
midgets, the cartoon imagery should appeal to them too. In the old days
it seemed that these losers were content with a rosary or a plastic jesus
on the dashboard, but now it looks like they need a whole bunch of
apparitions haunting their vehicle. I just wonder how long it will be
before they have to put a disclaimer in fine print on the commercial that
says, "Real angels not included" or something like that. Yeah, theists
really are that stupid, I'm afraid :).

It's just a suggestion, but we may be able to explain this by
reference to crap creatives who'd run out of time and ideas.

What are you waiting for? It's a perfect opportunity to get out of your
shed and back into the world of work!

Well, sort-of work, anyway.

Beowulf <beowulf_is_not_here@hotmail.com> thought hard and said:

Isn't it possible you're reading too much into it?

Quib is one of the few people that actually gives a *****, anyway.

Beowulf <beowulf_is_not_here@hotmail.com> thought hard and said:

Isn't it possible you're reading too much into it?

Quib is one of the few people that actually gives a *****, anyway.

In article <df6qrv4mb5v9q91bn1dngh65rm1mo4geru@4ax.com>,
beowulf_is_not_here@hotmail.com says...

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:43:45 -0700, quibbler247
<quibbler247@atyahoo.com> ejaculated:

I brought this up in another thread, but I thought this could use more
discussion. I've seen a commercial recently (on american tv) for the BMW
X5. They are trying to promote what they claim is a safer handling
system on their car called "xdrive".

But to do this they use an animation of these four angels who fly along
and "protect" the car. They don't explicitly say that these suckers are
angels, but they do have tiny wings, and are wearing tunics.
Here's a link that has some still and some quicktime pictures of what I'm
talking about.
http://www.hollywoodindustry.com/2003/11_nov/news/hornet1103.htm

Anyway, the lead "angel" is constantly barking orders to the others like
they were making a strafing run on the deathstar or something.

Um, I just thought they were playing on the "guardian angel" meme

You do know that catholics in particular are supposed to take that *****
seriously, right? They have specific prayers to them and stuff. Shows
like Touched By an Angel and City of Angels and Michael have tried to
make these religious concepts more hip in present society.

But don't
make the mistake of believing that this makes them devoid of religious
content. Don't make the mistake of thinking that religious people will
hesitate for a second in exploiting these things. It's easy to cry
paranoia, but in my experience, if you think that religious people are up
to no good then they probably are.

as a
description for their new all-wheel drive system rather than some sort
of implicit validation of theistic beliefs.

Well they also pan to the sky and show a lightning flash. The
implication is pretty clear that god and his angels are being endorsed in
the commercial. Of course they would like you to think that it's
innocent. By being subtle they make it easier to deny their intent. But
I've already found fundies on other web message boards gushing
enthusiastically about the commercials.

Can BMW not make reference to well-known, popular fairy tales in its
effort to sell cars?

But think about it. They associate a myth with a real car. That sounds
like an affirmation of the angel delusion. I know that to you it's a
myth. But fundies don't know that. If this had been about hercules or
something then fundies would dismiss that as unreal as well, but they
don't dismiss angels. Just because you know angels are ridiculous doen't
mean the ignorant masses see it that way.

Would you be this tweaked off if they had done
some variant on Little Red Riding Hood instead?

Fundies don't think Little Red Riding Hood is read, so such a commercial
would not have the effect of pandering to them. This does, whether it
was intended or not. If you want to believe it was unintention, that's
fine. I don't think that multi-million dollar commercials like this are
quite so accidental.

Isn't it possible you're reading too much into it?

It's always possible to do that when dealing with religion. That's why
religion sucks so hard.

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 22:55:14 GMT in alt.atheism, Fear gan dia ("Fear
gan dia" <tbqdsxhsddhqr@dthxxqnlrstd.com>) said, directing the reply
to alt.atheism



[snip]

(Warning: don't read further if eating or drinking)

Here in Phoenix I'm constantly seeing xian bumper stickers that
make me groan at the sheer smug stupidity of them. The latest
one is: "Don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly".

I always wanted one along the lines of "If you can read this and
we're moving, if I break hard you're dead."

In article <3fbd4652.002@dthxxqnlrstd.com>,
tbqdsxhsddhqr@dthxxqnlrstd.com says...

Verily verily I say unto you, it is written by quibbler247 <quibbler247@atyahoo.com>
in <MPG.1a26ab3bd1ffd3198968f@news.cis.dfn.de>:

# I brought this up in another thread, but I thought this could use more
# discussion. I've seen a commercial recently (on american tv) for the BMW
# X5. They are trying to promote what they claim is a safer handling
# system on their car called "xdrive".
#
# But to do this they use an animation of these four angels who fly along
# and "protect" the car. They don't explicitly say that these suckers are
# angels, but they do have tiny wings, and are wearing tunics.
# Here's a link that has some still and some quicktime pictures of what I'm
# talking about.
# http://www.hollywoodindustry.com/2003/11_nov/news/hornet1103.htm
#
# Anyway, the lead "angel" is constantly barking orders to the others like
# they were making a strafing run on the deathstar or something. Eventually
# the leader gets splashed in the face with some mud and rather than being
# tweaked off about it he says, "I love this job!" Assuming that he's not
# being sarcastic, which is not how it sounds, one wonders how crappy
# and boring heaven has to be for one to prefer getting splashed in the
# face with mud and flying around in a drafty tunic :)
#
# Of course, that's just the fun part. On a serious side, it is a little
# troubling that BMW wants to pander to theists like this. Despite what
# the above link says, the commercial itself very definitely is trying to
# use theism to sell products -- a long ignoble tradition for xians in
# particular.
#

In article <3fbd4652.002@dthxxqnlrstd.com>,
tbqdsxhsddhqr@dthxxqnlrstd.com says...

Verily verily I say unto you, it is written by quibbler247 <quibbler247@atyahoo.com>
in <MPG.1a26ab3bd1ffd3198968f@news.cis.dfn.de>:

# I brought this up in another thread, but I thought this could use more
# discussion. I've seen a commercial recently (on american tv) for the BMW
# X5. They are trying to promote what they claim is a safer handling
# system on their car called "xdrive".
#
# But to do this they use an animation of these four angels who fly along
# and "protect" the car. They don't explicitly say that these suckers are
# angels, but they do have tiny wings, and are wearing tunics.
# Here's a link that has some still and some quicktime pictures of what I'm
# talking about.
# http://www.hollywoodindustry.com/2003/11_nov/news/hornet1103.htm
#
# Anyway, the lead "angel" is constantly barking orders to the others like
# they were making a strafing run on the deathstar or something. Eventually
# the leader gets splashed in the face with some mud and rather than being
# tweaked off about it he says, "I love this job!" Assuming that he's not
# being sarcastic, which is not how it sounds, one wonders how crappy
# and boring heaven has to be for one to prefer getting splashed in the
# face with mud and flying around in a drafty tunic :)
#
# Of course, that's just the fun part. On a serious side, it is a little
# troubling that BMW wants to pander to theists like this. Despite what
# the above link says, the commercial itself very definitely is trying to
# use theism to sell products -- a long ignoble tradition for xians in
# particular.
#
# I guess in some ways it seems appropriate. Theists are probably too dumb
# to realize that they are even being pandered to. They probably think
# this means that the folks at BMW are fundies, when really they just
# want to use any technique to make a buck. Since most theists are mental
# midgets, the cartoon imagery should appeal to them too. In the old days
# it seemed that these losers were content with a rosary or a plastic jesus
# on the dashboard, but now it looks like they need a whole bunch of
# apparitions haunting their vehicle. I just wonder how long it will be
# before they have to put a disclaimer in fine print on the commercial that
# says, "Real angels not included" or something like that. Yeah, theists
# really are that stupid, I'm afraid :).

(Warning: don't read further if eating or drinking)

Here in Phoenix I'm constantly seeing xian bumper stickers that
make me groan at the sheer smug stupidity of them. The latest
one is: "Don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly".

So where in the bible does it tell us what the air-speed velocity of an
unladen guardian angel is :)?

I hope this isn't related to how many can
dance on the head of a pin.

In article <0Rbvb.406699$be.56941@news.easynews.com>,
cassiejn@softhome.net says...

quibbler247 wrote:

Of course, that's just the fun part. On a serious side, it is a little
troubling that BMW wants to pander to theists like this. Despite what
the above link says, the commercial itself very definitely is trying to
use theism to sell products -- a long ignoble tradition for xians in
particular.

I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I think the idea was symbolism
and even atheists recnogize the significance of an angel (or the concept
of a "guardian angel"), despite that angels do not exist.

Well, I think that most theists who see pictures of
angels will think religious thoughts.