Jesus Dress Up
Encyclopedia
Jesus Dress Up is a game that was created by artist Normal Bob Smith in 1991 as a black-and-white colorform, which he photocopied and distributed to friends.
In August 2000, Smith converted the drawings to digital art
and launched a website, allowing users to virtually play with a dress-up doll
by placing movable layers of clothing on top of a crucified Jesus
. Outfits in the original version included a light-blue tuxedo, football uniform, snorkeling gear, and red devil
pajamas.
In 2003, Normal Bob Smith produced a companion refrigerator-magnet
set, which was sold through the website and was subsequently picked up by retailer Urban Outfitters.
As of November 2006, Normal Bob Smith has sold more than 15,000 sets of the Jesus Dress Up magnets. There are nine versions: the original, Superstar
, Miscellaneous Holiday, Halloween
, Christmas
, Final Justice, BDSM
, Wizard of Oz
, and Star Wars
. Smith has also posted a Youtube video of himself giving one to Richard Dawkins
at a book signing but there is no word as of yet whether Dawkins put it on his fridge in England.
Jesus Dress Up magnets appeared in the segment on Normal Bob Smith in the Neil Abramson documentary film
Bob Smith USA, which premiered at the American Film Institute
’s SilverDocs
Film Festival in Washington DC in June 2005.
store in the King of Prussia mall
. He wrote a letter of complaint to the chain and brought his story to his local NBC
affiliate WCAU-TV when he received their response: Urban Outfitters stated that the magnet was not being sold to offend anyone, but to reflect a diversity of opinion among its customer base.
Urban Outfitters received more than 250,000 complaints, due mostly to organizational efforts from OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com, activism group websites created by the American Family Association
. Following the controversy on March 17, Urban Outfitters cancelled its remaining orders with the artist and publicly stated that they would no longer order the magnets to carry on their shelves but would sell their remaining stock.
As a result of this attention, on March 28, 2004, an activism group called Laptop Lobbyists alerted Normal Bob Smith’s web-hosting company and succeeded in shutting down the Jesus Dress Up site. Charles Wheelus, President of Pick Internet Solutions Inc., said in response to the protests, "I am as appalled as you. I find the content of these sites to be obscene and offending." JesusDressUp.com was offline for several days until a new web hosting service
was found.
In August 2000, Smith converted the drawings to digital art
Digital art
Digital art is a general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative and/or presentation process...
and launched a website, allowing users to virtually play with a dress-up doll
Paper doll
Paper dolls are figures cut out of paper, with separate clothes that are usually held onto the dolls by folding tabs. They have been inexpensive children's toys for almost two hundred years. Today, many artists are turning paper dolls into an art form....
by placing movable layers of clothing on top of a crucified Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. Outfits in the original version included a light-blue tuxedo, football uniform, snorkeling gear, and red devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
pajamas.
Internet reach
Within a month of its launch, JesusDressUp.com received over 150,000 original hits, and by October 2000 had over 250,000 original visits. Almost entirely by word-of-mouth referrals, the website received nearly 6 million monthly hits by the end of 2000.In 2003, Normal Bob Smith produced a companion refrigerator-magnet
Magnet
A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, and attracts or repels other magnets.A permanent magnet is an object...
set, which was sold through the website and was subsequently picked up by retailer Urban Outfitters.
As of November 2006, Normal Bob Smith has sold more than 15,000 sets of the Jesus Dress Up magnets. There are nine versions: the original, Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
, Miscellaneous Holiday, Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
, Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, Final Justice, BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
, Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...
, and Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
. Smith has also posted a Youtube video of himself giving one to Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
at a book signing but there is no word as of yet whether Dawkins put it on his fridge in England.
Jesus Dress Up magnets appeared in the segment on Normal Bob Smith in the Neil Abramson documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Bob Smith USA, which premiered at the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
’s SilverDocs
Silverdocs
AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival is an American international film festival created by the American Film Institute and Discovery Channel. It is held every year in Silver Spring, Maryland near Washington, D.C.. Started in 2003, the festival is held for eight days in June at...
Film Festival in Washington DC in June 2005.
Response
On March 14, 2004, Jesus Dress Up sparked national controversy when a Philadelphia man, known only as "Gerry", voiced his outrage after seeing the magnets at an Urban OutfittersUrban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters, Inc. is a publicly traded American company that owns and operates five retail brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN....
store in the King of Prussia mall
King of Prussia Mall
The King of Prussia Mall is the largest shopping mall on the East Coast of the United States, and largest shopping mall in the United States of America in terms of leasable retail space....
. He wrote a letter of complaint to the chain and brought his story to his local NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WCAU-TV when he received their response: Urban Outfitters stated that the magnet was not being sold to offend anyone, but to reflect a diversity of opinion among its customer base.
Urban Outfitters received more than 250,000 complaints, due mostly to organizational efforts from OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com, activism group websites created by the American Family Association
American Family Association
The American Family Association is a 501 non-profit organization that promotes conservative Christian values, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, as well as other public policy goals such as deregulation of the oil industry and lobbying against the Employee Free...
. Following the controversy on March 17, Urban Outfitters cancelled its remaining orders with the artist and publicly stated that they would no longer order the magnets to carry on their shelves but would sell their remaining stock.
As a result of this attention, on March 28, 2004, an activism group called Laptop Lobbyists alerted Normal Bob Smith’s web-hosting company and succeeded in shutting down the Jesus Dress Up site. Charles Wheelus, President of Pick Internet Solutions Inc., said in response to the protests, "I am as appalled as you. I find the content of these sites to be obscene and offending." JesusDressUp.com was offline for several days until a new web hosting service
Web hosting service
A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet...
was found.
External links
- “Urban Outfitter outrages Philadelphia Catholics” The Catholic Standard & Times
- “NO! to the Blasphemous ‘Jesus’ Doll!” The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP)
- “Urban Outfitters Heeds Public Outrage, Pulls ‘Jesus Dress Up’” ChristiansUnite.com
- JesusDressUp.com
- The artist’s website