Urban Outfitter outrages Philadelphia Catholics

By SUSAN BRINKMANN
CS&T Correspondent

Parishioners across the Archdiocese are reacting with anger and outrage at a product being sold by Philadelphia-based Urban Outfitters called the “Jesus Dress Up” refrigerator magnet.
The magnet depicts a crucified Christ in underwear and a variety of outfits to clothe him, such as a devil suit, a tutu and cutoff jeans. The “INRI” sign can be interchanged with banners reading “Hang In There Baby” and “TGIF.”
Elaine Krolovich, a parishioner at St. Leo’s, saw a news report about the item and was so angry she immediately called Urban Outfitters corporate offices on Walnut Street to complain.
“They screen the call and ask what you’re calling about, then put you through to a voice mail. No one can get through to them.” She tried twice more, but could not get a response.
Krolovich is not alone. Local news outlets report the same stonewalling from the cutting-edge retailer who refuses to respond to customer complaints. Only one customer seems to have gotten a response to a complaint, a man known only as Gerry who was interviewed by a local news station. He received an e-mail from the company saying the magnet was not being sold to offend anyone, but to reflect a diversity of opinion among its customer base.
Rev. Leonard Lewandowski, pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Swedesburg, scoffed at this response.
“The magnet is absolute blasphemy,” he said. “And for them to think they can get away with it by saying they’re responding to the diversity of opinion in their customer base is ridiculous. I’m a customer. I have a diversity of opinion too. You could have neo-Nazi customers and KKK (Ku Klux Klan) people in your store too. Why aren’t you selling dolls with hooded white sheets and KKK written on them?”
The answer to that question could be because magnet creator “Normal” Bob Smith is an avowed atheist. Smith once handed out “God is Fake” fliers on the streets of New York City with his “ruthless, immoral and adorable Unholy Army of Catholic School Girls.” His other activities include dressing up as a devil and painting his face red. He appeared in just such a costume while addressing the American Atheists convention in Chicago in April 2003.
According to his Web site, Normal Bob’s career was launched in 1991.
“I began to push myself artistically,” he writes. “I bought an 8 x 10 hardcover sketch book and was determined to fill its pages with drawings of things other than hot girls. My ideas usually came from dreams, depression or films … or any combination of the three.”
This illustrious combination inspired works of artistic “genius” such as Troublegirls, AmberRay and Big Joy dress-up magnets. In order to play fair, however, Normal Bob provides a dress-up magnet of himself for use by insulted customers as an outlet for revenge. Angry consumers can dress him up in diapers and torture him with devices such as a spray bottle of holy water and bloody nails.
Normal Bob claims he’s doing nothing wrong and is only making money off Jesus the same way Mel Gibson did with the movie “The Passion of the Christ.”
Father Lewandowski found this point to be laughable.
“Mel Gibson made a film that draws attention to the holiness and suffering of Christ. This guy is making a mockery of Christ. And did this guy invest so much of his own money like Mel Gibson did? Mel Gibson took a gamble. He could have lost big time on this. Did this guy risk losing so much of his own money?”
Urban Outfitters has been on the spot before and sparked the ire of the black population last October, for selling a board game called “Ghettopoly.” Loosely modeled on the original game Monopoly, playing pieces include a pimp and an Uzi submachine gun. The aim of the game is to become the richest player by stealing, cheating and fencing stolen goods. The hottest property on the game board is “Smitty’s XXX Peep Show.” Instead of building up hotel chains, players set up crack houses and slum projects.
“Images do count, and it’s disgusting,” J. Whyatt Mondesire, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said. Mondesire claims the game’s creator, 28-year-old David Chang, “bastardized a family-oriented board game and used the worst stereotypes that have become associated with African-Americans.”
Chang tried to excuse the game’s racist theme by pointing out the poor treatment he gave to other ethnic groups represented on the board, such as a Chinese restaurant that sells dog meat.
Jewish groups in Seattle raised an outcry in January over a T-shirt being sold by Urban Outfitters bearing the phrase, “Everybody Loves Jewish Girls” surrounded by dollar signs. The shirt was pulled from area stores, but remains on the shelf almost everywhere else.
Stephen Hane, president and founder of Urban Outfitters, said that he leaves buying decisions up to “a cadre of hip, plugged-in 20- and 30-somethings who routinely crisscross the capitals of cool. …”
As this paper goes to print, Urban Outfitters announced that it cancelled an order of 3,500 more Jesus Dress-Up magnets from “Normal” Bob Smith. However, existing stock will continue to be sold.

Contact Susan Brinkmann at fiat723@aol.com or (215) 965-4615