Jesus as a Shelf Stacker - Protestantse Kerk Nederland
16 december 2015
Christmas stress and Jesus, that's the theme for the Christmas commercial of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands this year.
Pagina-inhoud
*In contrast with previous years, the commercial hasn't been designed by an advertising agency, but by members of the Protestant Ichtuskerk parish church in Colmschate, near Deventer, in the province of Overijssel. Bastiaan van den Berg, one of the originators: `I hope that the people who see
this will think: who is this Jesus, what's up with this man? And that this moves them to come to church. It is a pitfall to put yourself on centre stage with Christmas, that's why this commercial is about putting Christmas stress in perspective.'
IFrame
The pastor as an actor
The commercial hasn't solely been set up by people from the Ichtuskerk, but they took all the roles in the commercial. In the commercial, for example, reverend Walter Meijles is a man burdened with Christmas stress. While running his Christmas errands in the supermarket, it is there where he
meets Jesus as a shelf stacker. Rev. Meijles: "Being touched from the inside evokes a sense of peace, of emotion and of connectedness. You can see this reflected in the people in the Christmas commercial. That is what Jesus was to His contemporaries; He can be that to us and we can be this for
each other."
No advertising agency
The Protestant Church service organisation had asked five congregations to make up a script for a commercial. These scripts were assessed by a jury of television makers and advertisers:
* Greet Prins - former CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi and president of the board of the service organization
* Pieter Leendertse - Managing Director of KesselsKramer
* Miranda van Holland - DJ and festival programmer
* Reinder van Dijk - Editor of protestant religious programming of the broadcasting company KRO/NCRV
Leendertse has a strong sympathy for the input of the church's own members in this commercial. It makes the set-up authentic. `The foundation is solid and makes the story unfold in a very natural way.'
Jesus from a glossy to a commercial
So every individual role in the commercial is fulfilled by people from the Ichtuskerk in Colmschate. Except the role of Jesus. This one is played by the same man who graced the cover of the Jezus! glossy published in March 2015. Leendertse: `Only Jesus comes from the outside. But that, too, is
actually a perfect match.'
Colmschate is the decor
And besides the people in the commercial who are all from Colmschate, likewise the locations can be found there: The sexton's house was used for the turkey scene, the landscaping company De Colm made room for the scene with the Christmas tree and the local Jumbo supermarket provided in one of
their shop corridors for the supermarket scene. And, of course, is the church scene set in the parish church of Colmschate: the Ichtuskerk.
The broadcasting of this commercial will be in the advertising slots on NPO1, NPO2 and NPO3, starting on December 17.
Translation: www.limwierde.nl