Boston gym’s ad featuring nuns and a naked man draws fire

Boston, Mass., Feb 1, 2008 / 01:28 am

A Boston-area fitness club’s advertisement depicting nuns and a naked man has attracted harsh criticism, CBS News reports.

The advertisement for the Equinox fitness clubs, developed by the Fallon Worldwide ad agency, is being displayed in gyms and publications like Boston Magazine.  One ad features attractive young women dressed as nuns in habit who sketch a naked man while staring at his crotch.

C. J. Doyle of the Catholic Action league called the advertisement “unfair and depraved.”

"It's also an example of this perverse obsession that the advertising industry has with exploiting and sexualizing Catholic religious imagery," Doyle said to CBS.

CBS Affiliate WBZ-TV asked a Museum of Fine Arts expert to comment on the advertisement.  Marietta Cambareri said "It's evoking a very particular aspect of art, the study of classical statuary or using the human body as a tool to learn how to draw."

Bill Donahue of the New York-based Catholic league also criticized the advertisement, saying, “this patently stupid ad that Equinox is floating suggests that it must hype its edgy image in order to compete. That’s too bad—apparently their targeted demographic group isn’t lured by the prospect of more barbells and fruit bars. Hence, the need to rip off Catholic imagery in a sophomoric soft-porn ad.”

The Catholic League asked for the ad to be withdrawn, while the Archdiocese of Boston has said it wants an apology from the fitness club.