Holy bias!

Religion in media is rarely complex. It’s often simplified into recognizable roles: the extremist, the rule-follower, or the moral compass. These portrayals may make storytelling easier, but they also influence how audiences interpret real religious communities. Looking at these depictions reveals how the media doesn’t just reflect culture, it actively shapes how beliefs are understood.

This insight inspired me to design an ad campaign that challenges these simplified portrayals. The campaign highlights how religious individuals’ identities are often reduced to stereotypes and invites audiences to reconsider the narratives they’ve been taught to recognize.

While these depictions may help audiences quickly understand a character’s role in a narrative, they can also reinforce narrow assumptions about what religious people believe, how they behave, and how they interact with the world around them. Over time, repeated exposure to these portrayals can shape public perception, making these simplified narratives feel like reality rather than storytelling shortcuts.

This campaign was designed to bring attention to that pattern. By using a callout method that speaks directly to the audience, the intention is not to mock religion or diminish its impact, but to highlight how media framing can flatten complex identities into predictable roles.

Ultimately, the campaign encourages audiences to think more critically about the media they consume and the assumptions that can develop from repeated exposure to certain narratives. By drawing attention to these patterns, the work invites viewers to question how religious identities are constructed through bias and to consider the richer, more nuanced realities beyond stereotypes.