A new billboard depicting the destruction of Christ the Redeemer has some members of the Brazilian community upset.
The ad, located on La Brea Avenue just north of Hollywood Boulevard, is part of a campaign for the movie "2012."
The film is based on the latest apocalyptic craze that according to the Mayan calendar, the world will end on Dec. 21, 2012 -- leaving us plenty of time to watch "2012" in theaters and eventually buy the DVD or Blu-ray. How convenient.
The film's billboard campaign has offended multimedia designer Sara Vieira. She is now trying to mobilize LA's Brazilian community and Catholic Church groups to have the ad taken down.
Vieira, who in full disclosure also designs websites for NBC, says the billboard is offensive:
I think it's disrespectful to have the image of Jesus Christ like that on the streets!! It's very disturbing and I would like for SONY to take it down immediately!! ALL OF THE BILLBOARDs with the image of Jesus Christ! I am sure every person in Brazil and the Catholic Church will agree with me as well!
Vieira has a suggestion for the promoters of the movie:
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Why don't they use YOUR Statue of Liberty? Instead of Messing with my country!??
They probably didn't use the Statue of Liberty because it's the ultimate cliché in disaster movies (see: Escape from New York, Planet of the Apes, Independence Day, Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow and Cloverfield). If there's a way to defile Lady Liberty, Hollywood's already tried it (We're looking at you, Ghostbusters).
In Sony's defense, we think everything in the world (spoiler alert) is destroyed in the movie -- not just Christ the Redeemer. Which raises the question, could Sony depict the destruction of a world landmark without offending someone?
Destroy Big Ben, and Brits would be offended. Destroy the Taj Mahal and Indians would be upset (also possibly Donald Trump). The point is that when it comes to the end of the world, no landmark can be destroyed -- even in fiction -- without upsetting someone.
Even so, for now, the billboard will remain up.
