Anti-Christian jeans
sell big in Sweden
By AP from the NJ
Home News Tribune Online December 31, 2005
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — A
punk-rock style, trendy tight fit and affordable price have made Cheap Monday
jeans a hot commodity among young Swedes, but what has people talking is the
brand's ungodly logo: a skull with a cross turned upside down on its forehead.
The jeans' makers say it's more of a joke, but the logo's designer said there's
a deeper message.
"It is an active statement against Christianity," Bjorn Atldax told The
Associated Press. "I'm not a Satanist myself, but I have a great dislike
for organized religion."
Atldax insists he has a purpose beyond selling denim: to make young people
question Christianity, which he called a "force of evil" that had sparked wars
throughout history.
Such a remark might incite outrage or prompt retailers to drop the brand in more
religious countries.
But not in Sweden, a secular nation which cherishes its free speech and where
churchgoing has been declining for decades.
Cheap Mondays are flying off the shelves at about $50 a pair. The jeans
have also been shipped throughout Europe and to Australia, and there are plans
to introduce them to the United States and elsewhere.
The jeans' makers say about 200,000 pairs have been sold since March 2004 — and
note they've received few complaints about the grinning skull and upside down
cross, a symbol often associated with satanic worship.
Even the country's largest church, the Lutheran Church of Sweden, reacts with a
shrug.
"I don't think it's much to be horrified about," said Bo Larsson, director of
the church's Department of Education, Research and Culture.
Other Christians, however, are calling for a tougher stance against the jeans.
"One cannot just keep quiet about this," said the Rev. Karl-Erik Nylund, vicar
of St. Mary Magdalene Church in Stockholm. Nylund complained that Swedish
companies don't treat Christianity with the same respect that they afford other
religions.
"No one wants to provoke Jews or Muslims, but it's totally OK to provoke
Christians," he said.
Some buyers have ripped off the logo from the back of the pants, or even
returned the jeans once they realized what the symbol means. But such
cases are very few, according to the brand's creator, Orjan Andersson, who said
he doesn't take the logo too seriously.
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