Buddha in Advertising

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31238, 9 December 1966, Page 16

Buddha in Advertising

Sir, —1 was appalled to see on page 9 of today’s issue a full-page advertisement of a figure, which obviously depicts the Lord Buddha, as an advertisement for men’s wear. I can imagine the horror with which an advertisement for Asian clothing, using an image of Christ, would be greeted by Christians in an Asian country. There are Buddhists in New Zealand. I fear that the principles of the advertising department of “The Press” have degenerated from a criterion of good taste to sacrilege.—Yours, etc., HUGH JONES. November 28, 1966. [Mr B. G. Moss, advertising manager of Vance Vivian, Ltd., replies:—“The sculpture used in this company’s advertisement of November 29 may certainly have been the figure of a Buddhist, but not of the Lord Buddha Himself. In the recent exhibition in New Zealand of the wort of Sengai, a famous Japanese artist, pen-and-ink sketches of genial

portly gentlemen could be found drawn with delightful humour and sensitivity. These were sketches of quite ordinary people, and among them Buddhist monks. As an artistic subject, the sculpture used in this advertisement could almost be termed traditional among Japanese artists. The figure which has offended your correspondent bears the same relationship with Buddha as does a sculpture of any Christian to Jesus Christ. No sacriligeous expression was present in using this sculpture as the theme of an advertisement.”]