Thursday, November 6, 2008

Hello And Welcome

The purpose of this blog is to share ideas about how best to advertise reason and evolution.

Our first job is hopefully to do some bus-sides to run in London in January.

The remarkable Ariane Sherine is organising the atheist bus campaign, which has already generated loads of PR (just try Googling 'atheist bus campaign'.


And she has already raised upwards of £50K to fund the execution you see above.

I've offered to help her out with some other ideas.

And I'm asking Scamp readers who are free of the God delusion to help out too.

Are you a Planner? Maybe you could contribute a cool strategy.

Creative? Write us an ad. Do it up in photoshop if you like, but a scamp is fine, or even just a headline. Obviously this isn't a BBH project and there's not going to be any money for anyone at any stage, but you'll get full credit.

I've had a go at writing a brief, so here it is below, but if you want to suggest a better one, then feel free.

First client meeting is Weds Nov 12th, 2pm.


Atheism Brief

BACKGROUND
Even in the 21st century, religion still has a big hold on people. Religious fanatics around the world kill thousands every year. Millions of people live in countries with oppressive faith-based regimes. Bishops get an automatic seat in the UK legislature. And state-funded ‘faith schools’ are allowed to discriminate in favour of religious pupils. Meanwhile, churches and evangelist groups (‘The Alpha Course’) are advertising for recruits. Where is the voice promoting rational, science-based atheism?

THE OPPORTUNITY
The British Humanist Association has raised over £50K to fund a campaign promoting atheism. The subject of our ads should probably be religious belief in general, rather than any religion in particular. But if you do mention a particular religion, it would seem to make most sense to reference Christianity, since this is by far the most widespread religion in the UK.

OBJECTIVES
Get PR. The campaign has already had great coverage in the media (try Googling ‘Atheist bus campaign’), and will hopefully get even more when we launch. An ad with real insight and bite will be more likely to get PR.

WHO ARE WE TRYING TO ENGAGE?
We’ll never reach the religious fanatics, and there’s no point talking to existing atheists. We should aim at the (very large) group in the middle – reasonable, intelligent people who were probably brought up with a bit of religion, and haven’t really questioned it since. We need to move their dial.

WHAT IS THE SINGLE THING WE WANT TO SAY?
There is no God.

SUPPORT
Fossils. Empirical science. The presence of ‘evil’ in the world contradicts the Christian notion of God as omnipotent and beneficient… more at RichardDawkins.net, especially the ‘Debate Points’ section.

TONE
Plain and factual might work. But then again, nothing undermines more effectively than humour. It’s open.

MANDATORIES
1) Idea must be cheap to do
2) In terms of media, it would be good to do bus-sides because bus-sides have already been announced. But we could propose an alternative use of their money if we had a great idea for a different medium.
3) The ASA code says “Marketing communications should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care should be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or disability.”

86 comments:

Mr Orange said...

96 sheet reads:

"If God was real, we'd all be millionaires."

or

"Imaginary friends are good. Imaginary friends that cause thousands of deaths in war are bad."

or

"God is for old people because they're scared of dying."

Jimjimmer said...

Until God speaks to you face to face, carry on regardless.

Joe Beutel said...

"Because an invisible woman would just be ridiculous."

"God loves you. Unless of course you’re poor and hungry."

"Most loving relationships don’t result in eternal damnation."

"Free Will: The God Loophole."

"An invisible man dictates your decisions. Please explain that."

joebeutel.com

sal said...

When you are told to believe, you'd better start doubting.

If God exists, may he fulminate you right now! Still alive?

Somebody in the sky follows you wherever you go. Don't worry it's only your Tom tom.

Ant M said...

GOD EXISTS*


*Terms and conditions apply. May not be actually exist. Almost certainly completely made up to keep people in their place. 'God' reserves the right to subject you to years of psychobabble and emotional blackmail until you are completely messed up in the head. Official representatives of 'God' reserve the right to write down nonsense in a book and then claim 'God' wrote it. Really silly rules and regulations may apply. Stone Age sexism and homophobia included. 'God' and his representatives reserve the right to ignore all proof about 'God' not existing and make up their own 'science' to 'prove' that he does.

James said...

It is difficult to argue against the existence of god (whereof we cannot speak, let us be silent etc).

It is a lot easy to argue that people's individual (crazy and superstitious) beliefs should be kept out of the public realm.

Essentially, "we won't laugh at you as long as you don't ask us to abide by your beliefs".

As it's the faith schools that have pissed you off, I reckon this is a better argument.

SchizoFishNChimps said...

Have lots of sex. No one else is watching.

Sleepercurve said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sleepercurve said...

"I feel like God wants me to run for President" - George W Bush

or

"Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may abuse him. 23 And the old man went out to them, and said: Do not so, my brethren, do not so wickedly: because this man is come into my lodging, and cease I pray you from this folly. 24 I have a maiden daughter, and this man hath a concubine, I will bring them out to you, and you may humble them, and satisfy your lust:"

Judges 19:22-30 - The Bible, great source of morality eh!

or

Want to learn more about genocide and ethnic cleansing - read the old testament!

Martin said...

I reckon it is hard to change people's mind about religion with an ad. However, it should be possible to make athiests more confident with an ad.

(A lot of the reaction to Dawkins book, and the examples therein, touch on the joy and relief that people felt when finally saying out loud that they didn't believe)

So how about a permanent poster on the Hammersmith flyover that says

"Today, tell one person that you don't believe in God"

P.S. ant m, 2.31am - I really like that. But would it have more power if the caveat simply read "terms and conditions apply"?

Mike Reed said...

I love this project. Here's the first of my ideas - a bit rough, but a thought:

(Headline)I want my child to go to a school that promotes the love of Zeus.
(Supporting line)You’re right. Faith schools don’t make sense.

Faith schools piss me off too. As does the fact that my son's school, which is secular, still sings Christian songs and all that.

Fraser McAlpine said...

Atheism: Really Brings Out The Best In People

Ant M said...

Cheers Martin. And yeah, maybe you're right - perhaps it'd be stronger with just 'terms and conditions apply'. Might make you think a bit more.

I like your thought about telling one person that you don't believe in God. But as we're trying to sway the fence-sitters, I don't think it's on brief. Why don't you get up there with a tin of paint one night and graffiti it on?

neillandobey said...

2 thoughts

1
“Blessed are the pacemakers.”
-they were invented by man using science and offer genuine salvation.

2
Thou shalt not kill*
*unless someone says something that you disagree with.

Lythrin said...

God. You need him because you're weak.

Andi said...

Headline.

Good fathers are those who let you realise that Santa doesn´t exist.

Andi

Martin said...

Well, I think that mobilising non-believers to convert fence sitters would answer the brief (eventually). And it takes the strategy used by the church and turns it back at them.

Anyhow, back to your idea - what if you used well-known religious slogans and then caveated them?

God is Love*

*Terms and conditions apply

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth*

*Terms and conditions apply

(How about

God Exists*

*www.termsandconditionsapply.com. Go multimedia. Create impact, start a dialogue.)

Anca said...

As I love this brief too much, I thought it would be a... sin not to reply with a blog like God Is In The Air.

jingwei said...

thought:

headline: For more reasons why you probably shouldn't believe in God, visit : [call for action website]

jingwei said...

scamp:

I think there is a small yet clear distinction between saying "there is no God" and "there is probably no God".

The key here, I think, is not to sound fundamentalist. Since we can't prove or disprove something that may or may not exist, saying "there is no God" is just as silly as saying "God exists". No one can be sure, because no one has definitive evidence. Dawkins has written a great deal on this. His books and documentaries are a treasure trove of headlines and reasons.

Perhaps we should be saying "there is no point believing in God" or something close to that.

In any case, I applaud this effort and hope it goes far.

jingwei said...

"The best way to stop terrorism is to stop believing in God today"

The Junk Mail Kid said...

"if God loves you then why didn't he do that washing up that was in the sink?"

God. If he did exist you'd probably dump him.

And

"if God loves you why has he never, ever put the rubbish out"

God. If he did exist you'd probably dump him.

OR

"It's silly to blame God for all the bad stuff in the world but it is sensible to try"

God. The best scapegoat you never had.

dangermain said...

"How'd those dinosaurs get there?"
God speaks #47

Unknown said...

If god is Omnipotent, can he create a stone he cannot lift?

adamlarge said...

Believe in people, not in God
***************************
Who’s God to tell you how to live your life?
***************************
Why is God so shy?
***************************
There’s nothing wrong with not believing in God
***************************
Not believing in God doesn’t make you a bad person
***************************
The religions can’t all be right

Anca said...

Latest item in All-Believers' 2008 collection.

Anca said...

New item and updated overview.

Unexpected appetite for ANYTHING that has something to do with creativity arises while working on boring digital projects -- in case you were wondering about the usefulness of digital marketing; a blessing in disguise.

The Junk Mail Kid said...

Trust in God to always beat you in a game of Hide and Seek

God. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

OR

There's this bloke who says he's your dad but get this, he's got millions of other children too. He doesn't pay tax, he's never given you a hug or taught you how to ride a bike, he isn't interested in your excuses, he doesn't want any of your back chat and he never takes you to the zoo because you never, ever see him.

God. If he existed he'd be on Jeremy Kyle getting a good telling off.

Ant M said...

Martin - yeah, I like your 'God is love*' version. I wonder if it's a touch too antagonistic for the prposes of the brief though?

Also, how about:

We created God, not the other way round.

skoop said...
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skoop said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
skoop said...

"NO GOD IS HURT IN AN ATHEIST AD.
ATHEISM, MAYBE, CLEARS THE WAY FOR PEACE. THINK IT OVER."

Anca said...

I’ve been carefully analysing commenters’ reactions to this brief and, not surprisingly, I’ve noticed none of us actually came up with a highly strategic proposal. Our ideas vary from clever but efficiency-free irony to plain delivery and there’s a reason for that: the brief has a major flaw. It is that one message we want to deliver.

“WHAT IS THE SINGLE THING WE WANT TO SAY?
There is no God.” Simon, Complete Works :)

And the flaw is not the message you identified, Simon. The message is fine and is an only choice. BUT the big mistake lies in the way you did your research for this message. And since I always advocate lateral thinking, let’s see where exactly the fault comes in and how we can reshape things: you asked “What is the single thing we want to SAY?” Well, the (first) correct question would be “What is the single thing we want to INDUCE?” Because Simon, trust me, “There is no God.” is THE LAST THOUGHT you’d like to share over tea with some fanatic TrueBeliever… unless you so badly want to check what’s up/down there before any of us… From THEIR point of view each one of US is set up as a major disappointment, there’s no need to stress that even more with messages like “There is no God.” I’d feel sorry to hear London buses are being taught how to take off and turn into UFOs.

Then what do we want to SAY? I reckon a wise option would be to say “God shouldn’t make any difference.” (At least not in this life.) THEIR theory has a high-heeled idiot mistake: it makes use of FEAR. If they act humanly, God has no reason to punish them. If they FEAR God’s revenge, then it means innate goodness is not their default. So again, who needs to believe in God? Yes, badly shaped psychological profiles that can’t find the tune with humanity unless threatened with the promise of eternal pain in the a_s after death. I mean... to all that divine unconditional love coming from Father Dear, what kind of idiot responds with FEAR?

Compressed overview of our new direction:

Stating that believing in God is mandatory for acting humanly holds the same amount of coherence as stating that you cannot receive natural light unless there’s a window interposing between you and the sun. (This could even be the visual concept for some ironic print execution.)

(And I haven't even mentioned that their extreme persuasion attempts translate into fighting God -- by undermining the whole Free Will good-night story...)

adamlarge said...

God loves everyone. He just has a funny way of showing it.
********************************
Moving in mysterious ways isn’t a good enough explanation.
********************************
Atheism: because life is amazing enough already.
********************************
Godless and proud.
********************************
God just doesn’t make sense.
********************************
Why would a god allow so much war?
********************************
The Middle East: you wait 14bn years for a god and three show up at once.
********************************
Atheism: have faith in yourself.

Ant M said...

adamlarge, perhaps that last one would be better as:

Atheism: have faith in humanity.

?

Mr.Gao said...

Ok, I am not so good at writing lines, but these are my thoughts;

God never believe god exist.

Encyclopedia or Bible.

If gods exits, gods will meet you in Trafalgar square on Sunday 9 o'clock.

Why bad things happen on good people? Because the gods are jealous.

Atheism means spend more time with you family, rather with God.

Mr.Gao said...

Facts:

Exodus 35: - God demands that we kill everyone who works on the Sabbath day.

Benteronomy 21:18 - God Demands that we kill disobedient teenagers.

Leriticus 20:13- God demands that death of homosexuals

Denteronomy 22:13-21 - God demands we kill girls who are not virgins when they marry.

Scamp said...

Good thought that, Mr Gao.

I love the idea of just using direct quotes from the bible, to undermine religion.

Could you find the actual quotes? Would be more powerful with the real quotes I think.

Definitely worth developing, this one.

Scamp said...

Thanks to everyone for all the ideas so far - there's some really great stuff being put out there. Keep 'em coming. First meeting is Wednesday, remember.

Anonymous said...

Headline

Too stupid to understand science?
Try religion.

He's dead.It's been 2000 years
Get over it already!

Threatening children with hell is FUN!.........

Anca said...

Make the most of discrimination.

Anca said...

2008 Backup DVD

Anonymous said...

How's this:

Our Father is not in Heaven...

Howard be his name.

Mr.Gao said...

Hi Simon, I found the actual quotes. :) They are a bit long.

Deuteronomy 21

21:18 If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, 37  21:19 his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. 21:20 They must declare to the elders 38  of his city, “Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say – he is a glutton and drunkard.” 21:21 Then all the men of his city must stone him to death.


Deuteronomy 22

22:23 If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets 41  her in the city and has sexual relations with 42  her, 22:24 you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated 43  his neighbor’s fiancée; 44  in this way you will purge 45  evil from among you.


Exodus 35

35:1 Moses assembled the whole community of the Israelites and said to them, “These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do. 1  35:2 In six days 2  work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a holy day 3  for you, a Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord. 4  Anyone who does work on it will be put to death. 35:3 You must not kindle a fire 5  in any of your homes 6  on the Sabbath day.” 7 


Leviticus 20

20:13 If a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman, 25  the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.

adamlarge said...
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adamlarge said...
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adamlarge said...

I don’t think you’ll find all that many people in the UK who take the Bible to be the literal word of the Lord.

So, I wonder instead if we shouldn’t be looking here not just to knock religion, but to promote the positive aspects of atheism (or at least make people feel comfortable to discussing their own lack of belief)?

If, however, we are going negative, then we can’t wimp out and ignore Islam. How about:

Q: WHAT DO YOU CALL A MAN WHO HAS SEX WITH A NINE YEAR OLD?

A: Muhammad

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Muhammad#Aisha)

If we wouldn't run it, then I don't see how we could run the examples from the Old Testament.

Anca said...

Nice job, Mr.Gao. Here's where I got starting from your idea.

Unknown said...

Alternative Atheism Brief - sorry it's so late. I only saw the post today.

BACKGROUND
Even in the 21st century, religion still has a big hold on people. Religious fanatics around the world kill thousands every year. Millions of people live in countries with oppressive faith-based regimes. State-funded ‘faith schools’ are allowed to discriminate in favour of religious pupils. Bishops get an automatic seat in the UK legislature.
It’s well-nigh impossible to change people’s views on religion because all the evidence is well known (if not accepted) and neither rational nor emotional debates work. We need to change the focus away from religion itself to how a 2,000 year old religion affects our lives today. And what greater arena than politics.
Unlike other jobs, the sovereign has to be Defender of the Faith(s) and every Prime Minister and Parliamentary leader (not just the extremist Rev Ian Paisley) has to profess faith and demonstrate church going before they’re deemed acceptable to the nation. And it’s even worse in the USA. Are they superior to the rest of us? Does He really talk to them?


THE OPPORTUNITY
The British Humanist Association has raised over £50K to fund a campaign promoting atheism. The subject of our ads should probably be religious belief in general, rather than any religion in particular. But if you do mention a particular religion, it would seem to make most sense to reference Christianity, since this is by far the most widespread religion in the UK.
We should get people questioning whether they have proper democracy when Atheists are never eligible for the top jobs.

OBJECTIVES
Get talked about in the Houses of Parliament. And The Sun, the Today Show and Arsene Wenger’s prematch comments. We want to stimulate debate and action.

WHO ARE WE TRYING TO ENGAGE?
The Silent Majority who have to put up with people of religion and their decisions at the top of society. Atheists, Agnostics and people who simply feel uncomfortable with too much religion infecting the nation, from anthem to decisions to invade countries.

WHAT IS THE SINGLE THING WE WANT TO SAY?
Elect an Atheist today.

SUPPORT
The monarchy. Gordon, Tony, John, Margaret, etc. Barack, George, Bill, Ronnie, etc. Nicolas, Angela, Silvio, etc. Being an Atheist is electoral suicide. At what point in public life does being an Atheist prevent you getting ahead on your ability?
MySociety.org campaign for improvements to democracy.

TONE
Indignant. Expose hypocrisy.

MANDATORIES
1) Idea must be cheap to do
2) Must encourage behviour not just attitude shift.
3) In terms of media, it would be good to do bus-sides because bus-sides have already been announced. But we could propose an alternative use of their money if we had a great idea for a different medium.
4) The ASA code says “Marketing communications should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care should be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or disability.”

adamlarge said...

I think this is moving in the right direction, because knocking organised religion is still some way from promoting atheism.

There are, I think, plenty of people who think most religions are pretty nutty, but who still have a sense that there might be a god of some kind. Much of the UK hovers somewhere between mild theism and agnosticism. I think we need to reach these people first, rather than attacking churches.

Instead of saying ‘isn’t is stupid that religions are telling you what to do?’, which in the UK they aren’t in any particularly significant way, we need to tackle the deeper questions that prevent atheism taking hold – why are we here? what does it all mean? and what happens when we die?

Or at least, we need to encourage people to think about these questions and not be scared to admit that atheism is actually the best answer.

Only then can we move onto a more direct challenge to what influence and authority the religions have over us.

Anca said...

@adamlarge -- You have a point there. I'm thinking of some kind of message that doesn't directly attack churches but rings a bell to their subscribers and at the same time encourages atheists to stick with their earthly mentalities. This way we also avoid brutal reactions from fanatics, which I think it's important.

And since buses are the first option, the message could be:

We don't try direct interaction with God here on Earth for the same reason we don't travel by camel in London. Save it for the afterlife.

Greg said...

Two speech bubbles on the side of the bus. They're positioned to look as though two passengers are talking to each other.
Passenger 1: "God forgives."
Passenger 2: "There's no god."

Tagline: "It's a win-win. Stop worrying and get on with life."

Anca said...

New Consumer Protection phone number.

Greg said...

Arrows stuck on the side of the bus. Every arrow is positioned so that it points to one of the passengers within. Next to each arrow is the word, “God?”

Tagline: "Until you see him, forget him."

Greg said...

Actually looking at it now, I'd probably change the tagline on that second one to: "If you don't see him, forget him."

Greg said...

Headline:
"The Delusion"
Tagline:
"Dawkins was right."

Greg said...

Damn, on my screen there was a large space between the words "The" and "Delusion", where the word "God" was missing, but the space disappeared when I posted. Oh well, I guess it could work both ways.

Anca said...

off the record:
new TV ad for Toshiba (Grey London)

Greg said...

Kinda like this I mean...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1628162&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=32985131033&aid=-1&id=655616553&oid=32985131033

Greg said...

I'll have to watch that Toshiba ad again once the acid wears off, I keep seeing things going back and forward.

Anonymous said...

How to bring peace to the Middle East. Atheism.

--------------------------------------

The difference between Religion and Atheism:
Believers will sit around and wait for the second coming.
Atheists will invent a time machine and go and find out the truth

Anonymous said...

Hi Scamp

Just a small reminder to check your bulk inbox/junk email box in case you have a really efficient spam filter. Emails from people who you don't know may go straight there.

Anonymous said...

The best thing about atheism is the lack of evangelism. Trying to ram an atheist doctrine down people's throats with an ad campaign, no matter how witty or pretty, will likely turn as many people off the idea as on to it.

The best thing about organised religion is all the good they do as collectives; Christian Aid and wotnot. Atheists don't have that pro-active positive thing going on so I'd take the money and give it to charity. Let journalists do all the hard work.

If you've already bought the ad space, give some money to a fish conservation charity and run the headline 'Cod moves in mysterious ways too. That's why we donated £xxxxx to save them from Spanish fisherman in EU-funded supertrawlers.'

(The full stop might look better right after 'save them'.)

Anonymous said...

GOOD EXISTS. WHO NEEDS GOD?

Scamp said...

6.16 I just checked my Junk folder and there was no atheism in there.

Just the usual "Big cock Poor sexy young chick with cocks ) sylvestral" type thing, preceded by a plaintive "[Spam?]"

Anonymous said...

I think my mum would disown me if i worked on this brief.

Anca said...

See? Now THAT's a good reason to do your best on this brief. If you can convince her with your idea, we'll know you're very very good. If not, then... we'll take you home I guess.

simon billing said...

We spend our lives minimising risk: of getting sick, losing our job, losing our money, etc., etc, and yet religion asks us to bet it all - our entire life - on the fact that a particular religion has overcome the most incalculable odds imaginable - and figured out the God thing.

The current bus ad is actually more agnostic than it is atheist ("God probably doesn't exist...").

Taking a position one way or the other (God exists/doesn't exist) won't actually make a whit of difference to your life - other than, if you subscribe to a religion, forcing you to live by other people's rules. Then you die and find out that nobody got it right.

The agnostic route is maybe easier for those "on the fence" to swallow; i.e. just live your life; trying to figure out the God thing is a mug's game

Hill Bicks said...

Here's one for ya.

If God existed, he'd have blown this bus up by now.

One for the Fundamentalists.

Anonymous said...

ENJOY LIFE BEFORE DEATH, NOT AFTER IT.

Or just:

ENJOY LIFE BEFORE DEATH.

Or maybe:

ENJOY THE AFTERLIFE.
(with 'THE' and 'AFTER' crossed out so it ends up reading,
ENJOY LIFE)

Eduardo J.H. said...

“If God exists, obviously just worked six days in its whole life.”

“If God exists, It is the worst landlord ever”.

“God is like love... blind and deaf.”

“If God exists, It needs another god to help it”

“If God exists ,white men are its favourites”.

“If God exists, obviously it wasn't top of the class”

“God made us in his image...”
(so he´s another sinner ??)

Anonymous said...

Spoof of the God campaign.
"I don't believe in me either." - God

or maybe do break-up messages between God and Men.
"I don't think this is going to work out." - God

Anonymous said...

So many gods. So little time.

Miracles still happen. It's just now they're called science.

Only god knows if he exists. The rest of us are just guessing.

We've seen the hand of god. Anyone know where we can find the rest of him?

What if you pick the wrong god?

Dog is vole.

And on the eighth day, we realised it was all a dream.

Usually adults with imaginary friends are locked up.

Imaginary friends are best for the nippers.

Religion. An imaginative way to pass your time.

All religions have a few skeletons in their closet. (Dino bone visual)

Anonymous said...

Athesism is really another type of fundamentalism.

Religious nut jobs have no evidence for the existence of their invisible, slightly pissed off dad archetypes but atheists cannot disprove a creator just with their absolute conviction that there is no god.

The damage that fundamentalist dogmas cause is to create certainty which then creates divisions which people seem to like to die over. The certainty of atheism is another division.

A faith/creation story/religion gives people a framework for their lives and a way to interpret their experience, if you are going to take it away, what do you propose to replace it with?

There is a grey area in between these two positions from which all possibility opens up. By embracing the possibility that there is no god people can take responsibility for their actions by using their own conscience as the highest judgement and to continue to inquire about the world with an open mind, to find out more about the amazing world we live in.

So bus sides should be questions that lead you to a forum for further inquiry.

=

What if Mohammed was just a crazy bloke?

What if you're wrong about Allah?

What if you're wrong about Jesus?

What if Jesus was just a man and his followers made up the bit about resurrecting?

What if death is the end?

Why does god have a penis and not a vagina?

What if each other is all we have?

What if your religion is fiction?

What if your parents raised you in the wrong religion?

Are you living your life based on the promises of balding paedophiles?

What if your god is the wrong one?

What if blue-skinned, four armed Krishna was actually just made up?

What if no-one's watching?

What if all religions are just memes?

Does it make make every moment more beautiful if we know there is no god?

Is there a heaven for dogs, beetles, ants and bacteria? Discuss.

The endline could be a url - Ihaveaninquiringmind.org or openmind.org

(If anyone is into this as an area for more stuff, knock yourselves out)

Stevo

mothershipconnection@gmail.com

B-Unit Blog said...

my bus side 6 sheet would be

Realigion - believe in yourself

Unknown said...

One word. Dinosaur.

I know a man that can give you everything you want. He loves you. In fact, he loves everyone. And, get this, he can do anything. He does have some rules you have to follow though. Oh, and you can never see him. Some people say he's not there, but they're wrong. You have to believe, kinda like Santa. Wanna worship him with me?

Unknown said...

I think comparisons between God and Santa could be interesting.

Anca said...

Joe -- You're right, the degree of naivety required is similar, it could work fairly well if properly exploited.

Off the record:

London International Awards, winners and finalists 2008.

Anonymous said...

I think there's no problem at all with people having their religion, it's not my bag but i don't want to disuade them at all, all i would want to do is tell the religious extremists on all sides to chill out a bit a get some perspective.


Calm down dear, it's only a religion.

Religion: It's not THAT important

Religion: Stop being such a twat about it all

simon billing said...

FYI article on guy who is suing God
http://www.slate.com/id/2204230/entry/0/?from=rss

Anonymous said...

Ive read through most of the comments and the brief and id like to share my first impressions, maybe they are helpful.
i couldnt find the hook on the brief, but actually anca's thought of "God shouldnt make a difference" was quite interesting.

1.) I dont think a campaign should tell people what to believe in. Our personal beliefs (and it can be god, buddha, my mom, the helping hand of mankind, etc..) are way much more important than letting an ad influence it. It has an effect on every second of our lives. and lets not forget that the "client" is the The British Humanist Association. Humanists talk about the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong so THEY BELIEVE IN PEOPLE.

2.) and here comes the one message we want to get through. it would be a lie to say theres no god because nobody knows for sure. and its not a wrong decision to believe it if that helps you to be a strong, genuine person. if im an atheist it means ive foud something else to believe in, something else to stand for and i dont want to hide it, or feel guilty or ashamed. so lets just say that ITS OKAY TO BELIEVE IN WHAT YOU WANT (god shouldnt make a difference). or its okay to not believe in god.

3.) based on this message who we are talking to? (of course not religious fanatics but we rarely talk to fanatics in general). and not the people who havent decided yet (cuz if that persons gonna be atheist becuz of this campaign there should be a massive problem with him/her). So I think we talk to people who decided to believe and rely on other people and not god, who are ashamed or are confused about atheism in their life, the culture, society around them.

sorry for the lenght. only draft ideas.

Anonymous said...

**My Strategic input**

I wouldn't address religious people in the ad, I would rather do something that starts a conversation across the fence. I think, considering their limited budget and the theme, you would need to create a campaign that is a conversation starter and has a lot of PR value.

1. Because it's unlikely that one line of copy will persuade a person to get off the fence.

2. Considering their limited budget and the theme, you could probably achieve more with something that makes the Atheism/God debate a current affair and has a lot of PR value.

It's putting your faith in the people on the Atheism side of the fence to persuade the ones on the other side. A member-gets-member action if you will.


**My creative input**

Buy the ad space and give it those swell people of The Westboro Babtist Church.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I would clearly put on every ad:

Message brought to you by the Westboro Babtist Chruch, paid for by Advertising for Atheism.

RandomRoy said...

I've got an Idea for an Ad, perhaps on the tube/billboard:

The background is covered in smaller different coloured writing of names of every God you can fit on there. Not just God or Allah but Ra, Thor, Ares, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Elvis (yes there is a church of Elvis too. {http://www.24hourchurchofelvis.com/}) Basically the Norse, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Native American, Hindu, Japanese Gods all written down on the back ground in different colours and different sizes with Large bold writing over it saying:

"Which one of the Hundreds of Thousands of Gods that humans have created do you believe in today?"

Perhaps again striving not to insult anyone would be a good idea so using 'dead' Gods from old religions would probably be a better. Just aiming to make people stop and think, cross examine what may have been ignorantly accepted in the past.

Anonymous said...

"Hello, God, it's me. Hello? Hello?"
There's probably no God. Stop talk alone.

Taff said...

More of a strategy idea than creative...Remember the wrist band craze a while back? Well maybe we all need to be 'badge wearing' members. As has already been mentioned I think, talkability is key and we need to get people asking and talking about atheism. In terms of media strategy I think viral ads, ambient opportunities in social areas such as bars and highly specialised press titles are the way to go. You need to get people to feel like you are having a one to one conversation with them not blasting out 'dogma' in the form as organised religion. Would love to help out, I work in OOH media, so would be able to help with that side of things. Mail me if needed.