Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Australasian Journal of Popular Culture
  4. Volume 13, Issue 1
  5. Article
The Afterlife in Popular Culture
  • ISSN: 2045-5852
  • E-ISSN: 2045-5860

Abstract

HELL Pizza’s advertising is characterized by its provocative art, audacious copy and bold tactics that relishes in its hellish reputation. Rather than merely relying on attention-grabbing stunts, the brand employs strategies that tap into the deep-seated cultural norms of its audience. Often deemed controversial, HELL’s advertising elicits strong public reactions, serving as a mirror reflecting the evolving cultural and moral sensitivities and the place of Christianity in Aotearoa New Zealand. This article critically examines the official complaints about the use of religious references in HELL’s advertising to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in Aotearoa New Zealand. Using thematic analysis, we analyse how ‘offense’ and references to Christianity are navigated by the public complainant, the ASA and the brand, in 79 rulings between 2005 and 2021. We conclude that while the brand consistently negotiates a fine line between edgy humour and potential offense, the ASA rulings suggest a societal trend leaning towards freedom of artistic expression, even when intertwined with religious undertones, particularly when a brand has a well-established identity.

© 2024 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ajpc_00088_1
2024-07-31
2026-02-10
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aaker, David A. (1996), ‘Measuring brand equity across products and markets’, California Management Review, 38:3, pp. 102–20.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) (2023), ‘Advertising standards codes’, Advertising Standards Authority, https://www.asa.co.nz/codes/codes/advertising-standards-code/. Accessed 3 February 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Beard, Fred K. (2008), ‘Advertising and audience offense: The role of intentional humor’, Journal of Marketing Communications, 14:1, pp. 1–17.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Carrette, Jeremy and King, Richard (2005), Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion, London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Clark, Terry R. (2012), ‘Introduction: What is religion? What is popular culture: How are they related?’, in T. R. Clark and Jr D. W. Clanton (eds), Understanding Religion and Popular Culture: Theories, Themes, Products and Practices, London and New York: Routledge and Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 1–12.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Einstein, Mara (2007), Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age, London and New York: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Forbes, Bruce David and Mahan, Jeffrey H. (eds) (2017), Religion and Popular Culture in America, CA: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Francoeur, Robert T. (2001), ‘Challenging collective religious/social beliefs about sex, marriage, and family’, Journal of Sex Education and Therapy, 26:4, pp. 281–90.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Geertz, Clifford (2002), ‘Religion as a cultural system’, in M. Lambek (ed.), A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion, Malden MA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, pp. 61–82.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Gould, Melissa L. (2008), ‘Religion sells: A discourse analysis of the use of religious references in campaigns that sell non-religious products’, honours dissertation, Aotearoa New Zealand: Auckland University of Technology.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Gould, Melissa (2016), ‘Christianity sells and the advertiser’s toolbox’, Ph.D. thesis, Aotearoa New Zealand: Auckland University of Technology.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Guest, Greg, MacQueen, Kathleen M. and Namey, Emily E. (2012), ‘Introduction to applied thematic analysis’, Applied Thematic Analysis, 3:20, pp. 1–21.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Hays, Mila (2018), ‘Does controversial advertising still work?: Four New Zealand case studies?’, MA thesis, Aotearoa New Zealand: Auckland University of Technology.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. HELL Pizza (2011), ‘“Hell Cross Bun” billboard advertisement’, Ads of the World, https://www.adsoftheworld.com/campaigns/hell-cross-bun. Access 17 August 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. HELL Pizza (2012), ‘Pizza Roulette television advertisement’, YouTube, 29 March, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ahNpFf1_0Q. Accessed 17 August 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. HELL Pizza (2014), ‘Rabbit billboard advertisement’, Ads of the World, https://www.adsoftheworld.com/campaigns/rabbit-0a19f2c2-20c7-425b-ac66-b06bd7657ba2. Accessed 17 August 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Hoover, Stewart, M. (2003), ‘Religion, media and identity: Theory and method in audience research on religion and media’, in J. Mitchell and S. Marriage (eds), Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, Religion and Culture, London and New York: T&T Clark, pp. 9–20.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Johnstone, Carlton (2016), ‘Marketing God and Hell: Strategies, tactics and textual poaching’, in C. Deacy and E. Arweck (eds), Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age, New York: LaTour & Henthorne, pp. 105–21.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Kadić-Maglajlić, Selma, Arslanagić-Kalajdžić, Maja, Micevski, Milena, Michaelidou, Nina and Nemkova, Ekaterina (2017), ‘Controversial advert perceptions in SNS advertising: The role of ethical judgement and religious commitment’, Journal of Business Ethics, 141:2, pp. 249–65.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Keller, Kevin Lane (1993), ‘Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity’, Journal of Marketing, 57:1, pp. 1–22.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Levine, Stephen (2012), ‘Political values: Enduring political values’, Te Ara: The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, 20 June, https://teara.govt.nz/en/political-values/page-3. Accessed 23 May 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Magill, Kerrie-Lee (2023), ‘From the Chair (ASA Governance Board)’, Advertising Standards Authority, https://www.asa.co.nz/about-us/from-the-chair/. Accessed 23 May 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Maguire, Brendan and Weatherby, Georgie A. (1998), ‘The secularisation of religion and television commercials’, Sociology of Religion, 59:2, pp. 171–79.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Maguire, Brendan, Sandage, Diane and Weatherby, Georgie A. (1999), ‘Television commercial content: Religion versus science and professional expertise’, Sociological Focus, 32:4, pp. 413–25.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Mallia, Karen (2009), ‘From the sacred to the profane: A critical analysis of the changing nature of religious imagery in advertising’, Journal of Media and Religion, 8:3, pp. 172–90.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. McStay, Andrew (2010), ‘A qualitative approach to understanding audience’s perceptions of creativity in online advertising’, Qualitative Report, 15:1, pp. 37–58.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Moore, Rick (2005), ‘Spirituality that sells: Religious imagery in magazine advertising’, Advertising & Society Review, 6:1, https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2005.0006.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Moraru, Mădălina B. (2013), ‘Sacred and profane view of Christmas in advertising’, Revista Romana de Jurnalism si Comunicare-RRJC (Romanian Journal of Journalism & Communication), 8:4, pp. 26–38.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Nardella, Carlo (2012), ‘Religious symbols in Italian advertising: Symbolic appropriation and the management of consent’, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 27:2, pp. 217–40, https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2012.675689.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. New Zealand Legal Information Institute (2023), ‘New Zealand advertising standards authority decisions database’, New Zealand Legal Information Institute, 10 August, http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZASA. Accessed 17 August 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. NZ Census (2018), Population Data; Generated by Statistics New Zealand, Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa, https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/2018-census-population-and-dwelling-counts/. Accessed 12 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Singh, Harkanwal and Tan, Lincoln (2015), ‘God and money: Interactive map shows rich suburbs have most atheists’, NZ Herald, 13 May, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=114472700. Accessed 12 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Stats NZ (2019), ‘Losing our religion’, Statistics New Zealand, 3 October, https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/losing-our-religion#:~:text=The%202018%20Census%20results%20showed,in%20the%20last%20few%20censuses. Accessed 12 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Stats NZ: Tatauranga Aotearoa (2023), ‘National population estimates: At 30 September 2023’, Stats NZ https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/national-population-estimates-at-30-september-2023/#:~:text=At%2030%20September%202023%3A,resident%20population%20was%20provisionally%205%2C269%2C200. Accessed 1 October 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Strauss, Anselm and Corbin, Juliet (1998), Basics of Qualitative Research Techniques, 2nd ed., Thousand Oaks, CA, London and New Delhi: Sage Publications, Inc.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Tan, Lincoln and Singh, Harkanwal (2015), ‘State of faith: Wellington can’t believe it’, NZ Herald, 13 May, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/state-of-faith-wellington-cant-believe-it/LKHSHNO6ZBKDAOQTEQLROYJLKQ/?c_id=1&objectid=11447823. Accessed 12 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Ting, Hiram and Cyril de Run, Ernest (2012), ‘Generations X and Y attitude towards controversial advertising’, Asian Journal of Business Research, 2:2, pp. 18–32.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Twitchell, James B. (2007), Shopping for God: How Christianity Went from in the Heart to in Your Face, New York: Simon and Schuster.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Vernerová, Simona (2012), ‘Characteristics of the language of advertising: Profanity in contemporary advertising: Profanity in contemporary advertising’, bachelor thesis, Zlín: Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities, https://digilib.k.utb.cz/bitstream/10563/21406/1/vernerov%c3%a1_2013_bp.pdf.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Wang, Zehua, Deshpande, Sameer, Waller, David S. and Erdogan, B. Zafer (2018), ‘Religion and perceptions of the regulation of controversial advertising’, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 30:1, pp. 29–44.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Weatherby, Georgie A. and Pugh, Jean (2008), ‘The secularisation of religion and television commercials in the U.S.: An update’, Journal of Sociology, Social Work and Social Welfare, 2:1.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Weinberger, Marc G. and Gulas, Charles S. (1992), ‘The impact of humor in advertising: A review’, Journal of Advertising, 21:4, pp. 35–59.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/ajpc_00088_1
Loading
Ads from HELL: Complaining about the use of religion in advertising
Australasian Journal of Popular Culture 13, 71 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1386/ajpc_00088_1
/content/journals/10.1386/ajpc_00088_1
/content/journals/10.1386/ajpc_00088_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): Aotearoa New Zealand; brand; Christianity; complaints; controversial; marketing; offensive; shockvertising

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test