St. Bartholomew the Great in London served as a backdrop for "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," and yet it's a T-Mobile commercial spoofing England's royal wedding that an anonymous senior cleric finds "embarrassing." So much so he wants "to sweeten the taste in the mouth" by pressuring the church into donating the £3,500 ($5700) earned to a charity associated with Prince William and his bride, Kate Middleton.
No way is that happening, according to shameless rector Rev. Dr. Martin Dudley, who says that money goes directly into the medieval church's £500,000 ($810,000) annual upkeep. What's more, he fails to see the big deal.
It was "part of the celebration of the wedding," Dr. Dudley said, defending the T-Mobile ad in the London Evening Standard. "It was not a stuffy wedding and this generated a lot of interest."
The very successful marketing campaign features a crew of royal family look-alikes (alas, no Pippa!), boogieing down the aisle like the infinitely copied "JK Wedding Entrance Dance" of YouTube 2009. More than 24 million YouTube views seems to indicate viewers don't have a problem with it — or are so horrified they can't look away and/or insist on sharing the nightmare. It's probably more of the former.
The church has been used as a set for "Four Weddings And A Funeral," "The Apprentice," and "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen," a resume which reveals that one complaining anonymous senior cleric picked a pretty dumb battle.
More on the annoying way we live now:
- Facebook: Cthulhu hat a bold choice for royal wedding
- Royal wedding's 'Frowning Flower Girl' rules Internet
- Kate Middleton kicked off Facebook ... again!
Helen A.S. Popkin will take a T-Mobile marketing campaign over yet another Hipster's viral wedding proposal any day. Join her for tea on Twitter and Facebook, won't you?