A few weeks ago I received a call from a producer at News 12 Long Island asking for comments on a recent ad campaign for a popular fitness center chain located throughout the metropolitan area, including Long Island. It seems many Long Islanders, both Catholic and non-Catholic, had called News 12 to voice their concern over the Equinox fitness club’s “Happily Ever” ad which featured, without getting too specific, four models dressed as nuns, sketching a naked man, with the clear expression that they are missing out on something.

What exactly four religious sisters and a naked man have to do with a fitness gym, I cannot really tell you. What I can say is that the blatant ripping off of Catholic imagery for shock value is nothing new. In fact, this type of thing has been done so often, particularly since the 1980s and the music videos of Madonna, that many of the cultural elite themselves, commenting in various newspaper and magazine articles on the ad, gave it a big “yawn,” asking if an advertising agency could not come up with something a little more creative.

Indeed, if one were to see the ad, one cannot ignore its sophomoric and juvenile nature.

This lack of creativity may be connected to the ad agency used by Equinox, Fallon
Worldwide, which has been suffering from a host of major setbacks over the last couple of decades. Twenty years ago, Fallon was hit with a $22 million lawsuit involving senior employees who were involved in a number of racist and sexist incidents. It has been downhill from there, with many major U.S. corporations cutting their business ties with Fallon. Some think this ad was a desperate attempt to undo their financial troubles. Along those lines, one questions the logic of Equinox choosing such an unreliable ad agency.

This unreliability became all the more evident after Fallon’s communications director, Rosemary Abendroth, defended the “Happily Ever” ad by saying, “We’re not saying they’re nuns. They are all models dressed in a certain way. It isn’t meant to be a religious commentary.” She went on, “...those who jumped to the conclusion that they were nuns, they should be corrected.” For you folks who did not see the ad, or are not sure what traditional nuns look like, take it from me, they are dressed as nuns. Black robe, starched veil, rosary beads around the neck, all in the atmosphere of church candlelight, roman columns, and a baroque-style metal grill.

Yes, these models are meant to be seen as nuns. They are most certainly not meant to be seen as Islamic women in veils, or Hasidic Jewish women in their traditional dress. If that had been the case, we can be pretty sure this ad would have been pulled rather quickly. The immediate, rightful outrage from these groups would have made Equinox see the problem of trusting Fallon Worldwide to market their gyms. There are obviously lines no one wants to cross. But as so many of us know, when it comes to the Catholic Church, along with its symbols, imagery, and belief, a double standard exists. As Philip Jenkins describes in his book, “The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice,” “Catholics and Catholicism are at the receiving end of a great deal of startling vituperation in contemporary America, although generally, those responsible never think of themselves as bigots.” The mockery of women whom we see as consecrated to God in a special, beautiful way — religious women, many of whom through the ages as well as in our own times have shown tremendous sacrifice in serving God and humanity, cannot be dismissed as “just a joke,” or “free expression.” It ultimately insults all of us, Catholics and non-Catholics, who believe in the importance of religious values for ourselves and our families, values which our religious sisters represent.

But Equinox and Fallon Worldwide might just be a bit surprised. That targeted demographic group they were trying to lure, those 20- and 30-somethings, whom Fallon believes can only be lured by edgy, provocative marketing, are the very ones who have raised their voice to the local media as well as the Catholic League. And many of them have told us they are looking for other gyms which don’t blatantly deride their faith.

Are Catholics finally having enough of the mockery of the things they hold most dear? We can only hope. But one thing is for sure. The anti-Catholic bigots won’t quit until they hear our united voices, loud and strong. As the NYPD says, “if you see something, say something.” Maybe it’s time we finally say something, so the bigotry stops.

James Krug is president of the Long Island chapter of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.