Marketer's have no shame. After seeing Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ", I'm not sure how to take a story like this. Nothing about this movie should be sensationalized, but it's effects on the quasi-Christian community could be profound. The revolution will be marketed. Understandably, the marketing of Christianity makes some theologians uneasy, to say the least.

Hallmark, the greeting-card giant, sells nearly $300 million worth of religious and spiritual greeting cards annually, accounting for about 10 percent of its overall card business. Rachel Bolton, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City-based company, said she expects "The Passion" to fuel a spurt in spiritual retail.

"We expect that many Christians seeing the movie will reaffirm their beliefs and be inspired to express their faith in more areas of their lives," she said.

Related Notes: Oscars, "Passion" Drive Web Users to Movie Sites
With the Oscars just two days away and buzz surrounding "The Passion of the Christ" reaching feverish heights, Internet users are flocking to movie-related web sites, according to new figures from Reston-based comScore, a provider of Internet audience measurement services. The company said that more than 15 million Americans visited movie sites during the week ending February 22 -- an increase of 12% from the average of the previous four weeks. And last week, ThePassionoftheChrist.com broke into the top 10 movie category sites, with more than 600,000 unique visitors. With many of this weekend's shows reportedly already sold out, Internet users are turning to the web to buy tickets in advance. Traffic to Moviefone.com jumped 26% last week.
http://www.comscore.com/press/pr.asp

Related Resources:
AdAge: 'Passion' Becomes Textbook Case of Buzz Promotion