KEY POINTS:
There is a fine line between standing up for what is right and offering free publicity to a company. But where is that line drawn?
In late October and early November, Hell Pizza, which has garnered a reputation for cheeky, irreverent humour in its advertising campaigns, decided it
would promote its Lust meat-lovers pizza by distributing condoms into the mailboxes of 170,000 homes around the country.
The condom came with instructions on how to use it properly.
The strategy was widely condemned by people who feel that community standards are under threat. Groups that would be labelled "right-wing" by many rallied the troops and bombarded the Advertising Standards Authority in record numbers.
When the opposition to the campaign became major national news, Hell and its marketing team, Cinderella, went into damage control. Obviously recognising they had overstepped the mark, the companies sought to reframe the discussion.
They claimed they were trying to open debate on the important topic of sexually transmitted infections, HIV/Aids and unwanted pregnancy ? all major problems in today's society that are worthy of discussion in the right forum.
It is hard to take the company's claim seriously when there wasn't one word to that effect in the initial marketing material.
Thankfully, the Advertising Standards Complaints Board weren't duped and the 600 complaints were upheld. Hell was deemed to have breached acceptable standards.
The company was slapped with the proverbial wet bus ticket and said it was sorry that the marketing ploy had offended people. Somehow I find it hard to believe they were genuinely sorry given the contents of their defence to the complaints.
So, with the complaint upheld, and in light of a condemnation of the strategy by the country's Catholic bishops, the staff of NZ Catholic had a decision to make. Report it in a straight news story? Or make a stand for what many, if not most, Catholics believe?
The Catholic Church's opposition to artificial contraception is widely known, so there's no need to explain it in depth. In a nutshell, the Church believes sex is a sacred encounter entered into by a man and a woman who have been joined in matrimony. And that act should be open to life - translation: Not contracepted.
The Church is not blind to the fact that contraception is now commonplace, including among some of their adherents. Nor is the Church living in a bubble, believing sex is a purely intra-marital activity.
That does not mean the Church has to compromise its standards and ideals. So if the Church recognises that, what could one of its publications deem to be offensive about condoms?
It wasn't so much the product. It was more the delivery.
During its spin-doctoring phase, Hell and Cinderella devised a cunning plan: Offer a free condom when someone orders a Lust pizza.
Choice
Now, the Church can maintain its opposition to condoms without speaking out against such a promotion. At least there would have been choice.
The difference with the way the promotion was carried out, though, was the fact the choice was taken away.
Mailboxes do not come with filters or remote controls. People don't kiddy-proof mailboxes. When people - and in some cases, they were children - opened their mailboxes, the condom was staring them in the face.
As with the Boobs on Bikes parade earlier this year, which was also condemned in NZ Catholic, there is no off button. If you were walking down Queen St at the wrong time on the wrong day - or right time on the right day, depending on your opinion - you couldn't help but see half-naked porn stars.
People should be allowed to make a choice on such matters. Hell and Cinderella made a choice to put condoms in people's mailboxes. We made a choice to recommend people don't purchase pizza from those people.
After news of our proposed boycott made its way onto websites and into the daily newspapers, responses came thick and fast.
The usual accusations were levelled at the Church and religion in general:
* People said the sex-abuse scandal that rocked the Church - which is nothing short of horrific - has made the institution irrelevant and hypocritical.
* The Church's view on contraception is a tacit endorsement that Aids victims deserve to die, they said.
* Doesn't the Church have bigger issues to address?
The Church has expressed sincere regret for the abuse that took place and has taken major strides to remedy the problem, while cognisant of the fact the victims can never be adequately compensated.
The actions of a small percentage of priests are often used to tar all members of the clergy. Does one wife-beating All Black, albeit with name suppression, make our national "heroes" all abusers?
The Catholic Church provides health care to more Aids sufferers than any other institution in the world - bar none. At least one in four people infected with the HIV virus is cared for by the Church.
And yes, the Church does have larger issues to address. And they appear in the pages of NZ Catholic - a Church-backed newspaper, but certainly not THE official Catholic voice in New Zealand - on a regular basis.
The editor was called an "old fossil" whose views are still stuck in the middle ages?.
I'm 29. And if getting on the soap box I've been entrusted with and making a stand means I'm medieval, then so be it.
As a wise man once said, if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.
* Gavin Abraham is managing editor of NZ Catholic, the national Catholic newspaper
