What was a clever local ad encouraging folks to use public transportation when one of the planet’s most influential celebrities comes to town has become a massive PR headache for Washington, D.C.’s Metro system.
In an effort to alert D.C. residents that traffic will be greatly disrupted by crowds and intense security during the first visit of Pope Benedict XVI, Metro reps produced a simple, quiet but cute ad featuring a Pope Benedict bobble head riding the subway, buying a day pass, etc. As a lifelong Catholic (who even took Latin at my Jesuit high school), this reporter managed to watch the entire ad. At no time did my eyes boil or my face melt off like a Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
But, if there’s one thing that leading activists of the world’s great religions share it’s a complete, impenetrable void where their senses of humor should be. So, under pressure from the arch diocese, the ad was pulled. Of course, that brought exponentially more attention to the harmless ad and made it into a national multimedia news event.
As Pope Benedict might say, "Conlige suspectos semper habitos."
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