The Equinox fitness club chain will soon be bringing a controversial ad campaign to New York City that features nuns sketching a male nude model. The ads are currently on display only in Boston, but will soon be shown in other cities, including NYC. The Boston Archdiocese feels that the ads are a slam against the Church and the Catholic faith. Keira McCaffrey of New York's Catholic League expressed less outrage than disdain. "It's gratuitous. It's of course … it's a slap at nuns, but you know what? It's trite. It's not even clever. This is an old cliché ... let's make fun of nuns." Bill Donahue, the head of the Catholic League, weighed in, calling the ad "patently stupid" and "sophomoric." C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League wasn't as dismissive, calling the ad "unfair and depraved."
WCBS News asked people on the streets of New York what they thought of the ad and reactions ranged from enthusiasm at seeing a muscular naked man to people who thought the ad could be considered offensive. The main complaint of critics is that the ad uses religious imagery in a titillating fashion. One of the nuns is showing quite a bit of leg, revealing a garter, and another is pictured not taking part in the art session, but peeking through a gated door at the male model.
The two-page ad featuring the nuns and the naked guy is just one of a series of four print ads that Equinox is using. Another features a man in gold lamé shorts bent over backwards as women eat food from a plate resting on his stomach. Adweek has details on what the fitness chain is attempting to accomplish. The campaign is supposed to evoke themes of natural beauty, sexual fantasy, and eternal youth. A side benefit seems to be that it's generating quite a bit of free publicity.
