Lifestyle & Culture

“Dress-up Jesus” Magnets Stir Conversation and Controversy

Robert Hain has made blasphemy his business.

When Hain created his first Jesus dress-up doll in the early 1990s, they were made of paper and paired with a slew of paper outfits: A football uniform, bunny slippers, ultra-short denim cutoffs, bellbottom pants. In 2004, Hain turned the paper dolls into purple, fuschia, devil-red and other technicolored refrigerator magnets and persuaded such retail giants such as Urban Outfitters to stock his merchandise.

“They’re best-sellers,” said the 44-year-old Hain, referring to the eight themes of magnets. Those themes include Christmas, Final Justice, Lady Gaga and BDSM, which is short for sado-masochistic sexual bondage.

“My favorite is the Star Wars one,” Hain said.

The magnets have attracted the scorn of Christian groups including One Million Moms, prompting national chain Urban Outfitters to stop selling the products after only a few months, Hain said. “Urban Outfitters called and said never to call back again.”

Instead, Hain sells his wares these days in Toy Tokyo, Forbidden Planet and Gothic Renaissance and other smaller stores throughout New York. The magnets also sell in Paris at a store called Colette.

Though his products are on store shelves, Hain said he continues to face difficulties in product placement. A woman whom Hain assumes is Christian has repeatedly bought all of his stock from on particular store, so that it’s not available to other buyers, Hain said. And several family-owned businesses have been reluctant to sell the merchandise, fearing customer complaints, Hain said.

“That’s just inappropriate,” said New Yorker Elizabeth Kaleko, 21, after seeing a photocopy of the magnets. She described herself as non-religious.

“I wouldn’t protest it but I would never buy it,” Kaleko said. “…They’re making fun of Jesus.”

For his part, Hain seems to welcome the criticism. On his website, NormalBobSmith.com, he publishes and responds to “hate mail.”

“Jesus went through a lot for you and it’s highly disrespectful to do this,” wrote someone who signed only as “Nicole.” “I’ll pray for you.”

Others, however, take it all in fun.

“It’s best to take things in life with a sense of humor,” said Raine Anakanu, an employee at Gothic Renaissance. “I wasn’t surprised by some complaints … although they’re putting money in his pocket which is faulty logic.”

Hain first came upon the idea when he was a student at the Art Institute of Colorado. Deriding Jesus was his way of rebelling against an evangelical Christian upbringing that he found oppressive.

Now, he views himself as part of a growing number of people who embrace atheism.

He takes his views seriously. But he also has a lighter side, Hain said. As part of his shtick, he has dressed up like Satan at Comic-Con, the annual conference devoted to comedy, where he promotes his magnets.

He also spends his days on the streets of Union Square passing out flyers while chanting, “Make no mistake! Make no mistake! God is fake! God is fake!”

“A lot of people relate to me,” Hain said.

He has received some death threats because of his views, Hain said. He also has his supporters, he said.