Jesus Christ, the greatest rebel in history? This is the Scalpers Christmas campaign

A close-up of bare feet resting on the dirt of an olive grove; a man with long hair and a hood walks purposefully with his hands in his pockets, and with a seductive voice wishes us a "Merry Christmas". These are the first seconds of the new Christmas campaign by Scalpers, the Spanish fashion company, which, going beyond the norm with respect to its industry, resorts to one of the most recognized figures of these holidays. And no, we are not talking about Santa Claus, but about "the greatest rebel in history": Jesus Christ.

Under the slogan 'You are born a rebel' and directed by Bruce St Clair, the brand has given its Christmas 'spot' a twist, presenting an updated version of Jesus: more modern, more 'casual', more ' hipster'. Starring the English actor and model Jonathan Saxby, the 'son of God' version 3.0 retains the basic features to which we are accustomed and which we all keep in our collective imagination (dark-haired, with a beard and long hair), but dressed as any young millennial on a normal day: jeans, white t-shirt, hoodie and jacket (let's not forget it's winter). In it, the protagonist assures that if people celebrate their birthdays for more than two centuries, perhaps they are not celebrating a date without more, but "a way of being born and, above all, of living".

In addition to the message of rebellion, visually, it is striking how the Sevillian company flees from the clichés that often appear in the traditional advertising of its sector: there are no models wearing their clothes, no images of a luxurious life, no impossible postures . Simply, a man walking through an olive grove, telling his story as any other person (or 'influencer') of his generation would.

In this way, the Spanish company proposes a risky commercial bet, focusing not on the pure sale of its products, but on the vindication of what they consider a way of being: the rebel. A declaration of intent that is part of its DNA and that is linked to the radical turn that its brand has also taken, starting with its skull logo.

With all this, Scalpers invites the consumer to think "if they want to celebrate a banal and stereotyped Christmas or an authentic, rebellious, free way of being and living... We hope that the campaign brings a little inspiration and authenticity to this post-pandemic era where we are all recalibrating our values," says David Caballero, Wunderman Thompson's chief creative officer.

From the Congress of Deputies to Jesus Christ

This is not the first time that the Spanish clothing brand has resorted to a campaign with viral objectives. In January 2021, it already called various demonstrations in front of the Congress of Deputies encouraging its members to "recover their image", at least in their way of dressing, which was added to the 'spot' launched last Christmas, in which they stated that our image as a country was "on the ground".

More recently, on the occasion of Black Friday, the company launched an audiovisual piece in which it addressed "liantes y trileros" to present its 20% discount. Now, to tackle the most important commercial campaign of the year, recover the image of Jesus Christ, which will be accompanied by other actions:

1.- 'Body' for babies. Scalpers has produced a bodysuit for all babies born on the night of December 24-25. These presses will be distributed in a network of both public and private hospitals throughout Spain.

2.- 'Wild postering'. For two weeks a 'wild poster' campaign will be carried out in the streets of Madrid, Seville and Barcelona. The poster illustrates a baby with a 'body' of the brand under the motto 'Rebel is born'. In it, there will be a QR that allows you to enjoy the audiovisual piece.

It is, in short, a multidirectional campaign in which Scalpers goes beyond showing their own clothes to launch a more conceptual bet, with which to group their users around a way of being, according to their vision : that of transgression.