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Lee jeans ad irks Catholic community in Delhi

A Lee jeans advertisement showing a girl in tight pair of jeans hanging on the cross has invited wrath from the Catholic community in the capital.

The ad, which appeared on the latest issue of a women's magazine, shows a girl in the position of Christ hanging on the cross at the moment of crucifixion. ''(The ad) is most repulsive advertisement and hurts deeply the feelings of all Christians for whom the cross is a holy symbol,'' a spokesman of the Catholic Archdiocese of Delhi said on Friday last.

In a statement, he said the ad, which appeared on the back page of the magazine's September edition, made an attempt to hide the cross in the picture. ''Though the advertiser has cunningly tried to camouflage the cross on the structure of what appears to be the base of a goods train, it is quite clear to any layman's eye that the depiction is of the cross,'' he claimed.

Maintaining that no community should tolerate ''misuse'' of religious symbols for consumerist purposes, the spokesman noted that the ''ad slogan 'let the worship begin' is further confirming the intentions of the advertiser and belittling the sacred act of worship itself, particularly for Christians.''

UNI

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