Religious symbolism is being used increasingly in advertising, even though some people object to this practice. For example, the French fashion house Marithe and François Girbaud used a poster of well-dressed women posed in a version of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper: the poster was banned in Milan.118 In another example, a French Volkswagen ad for the relaunch of the Golf showed a modern version of The Last Supper with the tag line, ‘Let us rejoice, my friends, for a new Golf has been born’.119 A group of clergy in France sued the company and the ad had to be removed from 10,000 hoardings. One of the bishops involved in the suit said,

‘Advertising experts have told us that ads aim for the sacred in order to shock, because using sex does not work any more.’ Do you agree? Should religion be used to market products? Do you find this strategy effective or offensive? When and where is this appropriate, if at all?