Knowing the thin line they were treading during production in October, Lyons and Williams say, they took pains to make the church nondenominational.
Lyons, a Notre Dame grad who identifies himself as a devout Catholic, notes that "parishioners" include people in Amish dress, a man in a Hare Krishna robe, and a man wearing a yarmulke. No vestments or other religious symbols were used. Lyons is identified as a pastor. "I even wear a wedding ring," says Lyons, who believes that most protesters had not seen the video.
Which gets to another issue: Since the video did not win the contest, it is no longer on the Pepsi website. Lyons and Williams say they also removed it from YouTube out of respect for Pepsi and to dash the controversy.
Should you want to decide for yourself, WTSP-TV in Tampa, Fla., put aside a copy, viewable through http://ph.ly/bk3
"What an experience in advertising," Lyons says. "And social media," Williams adds.
Big business
Upper Darby-bred actress-comedian
Tina Fey has done for the Free Library of Philadelphia what no other author has done in 17 years: sell out a speaking engagement before tickets went on sale. When Fey was booked to appear April 12 in conjunction with her essay collection
Bossypants, fans scurried for the phone last month because annual subscribers to the library's speaker series (at $165 and $325) have first crack at admission. By New Year's, the 400-seat auditorium was full. By Friday, when individual tickets went on sale, all 100 seats in an adjacent room were spoken for. As public pleas grew louder, the library arranged a video hookup with Moore College of Art and Design across the way, and all 300 seats there vanished. Program director
Andy Kahan (sounding no doubt like
Lorne Michaels) sighs and says: "If we could have her here every day . . ."
