It seemed like a great marketing campaign: a Pope Benedict XVI bobblehead riding Metro. The Church was not amused. It was the clothes.
“Our concern is that this was a bad bobblehead,” said Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington. “You had unauthorized merchandise, and you had a misdressed pope.”
The bobblehead in the Metro video wears a red skull cap, known as a zucchetto, and a red cape. “Popes don’t wear red skull caps,” and they don’t wear red capes, only white ones, Gibbs said.
Metro yanked the YouTube video yesterday after the archdiocese complained. The video was meant to encourage people to take Metro to the papal Mass next week at Nationals Park, Metro officials said.
“We think there’s a better way to encourage people to take Metro,” Gibbs said. “This is the Holy Father, and I think a lot of people would not be comfortable with a bobblehead ad.”
i kind of liked the commercial…whimsical, informative…but i’m not catholic so i probably wouldn’t be offended. no one wants their leader to be the brunt of a joke.