, the Polish-born beauty better known for gracing numerous runways, fashion ads, and men's magazines (and more recently, a contestant on Dancing With the Stars) has apparently ticked off the Catholic Church in her controversial PETA ad.
Krupa, a big supporter of the Humane Society of America and PETA, recently posed nude for a PETA ad protesting "puppy farms" and advocating pet adoptions from animal shelters. Sounds harmless enough, right? So why is the Catholic Church so pissed off? In the ad, Joanna is depicted as an angel, complete with wings and a halo, floating above cute little puppies with only a crucifix covering her naughty bits (picture below). There's another photo from that ad campaign with a topless Krupa holding a puppy and a rosary.
Deal Hudson, publisher of InsideCatholic.com, said, "It's totally inappropriate. It's another instance of disrespect toward Christianity and another example of the kind of abuse that would never occur with any other major religion, because the outcry would be so immediate and so loud that the people behind it would immediately retreat."
In a recent interview on this issue, Krupa stated, "I think worrying about going topless in a photo shoot or film is really ridiculous. And the fact is, Pope John Paul said, since we were born naked, it is art, and it's just showing a beautiful body that God created."
PETA claims that animals purchased from pet stores are often from inhumane puppy mills, and that, of the 8 million pets turned over to animal shelters each year, half of that number are euthanized.
Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement, "The fact is that cats and dogs are a lot safer in pet stores than they are in the hands of PETA employees," He also added, "Moreover, pet stores don't rip off Christian iconography and engage in cheap irreligious claims."
This isn't the first time the Playboy model has gone nude for PETA - her earlier anti-fur campaign was sans religious props and obviously didn't cause as much of a stir. Though obviously controversial, I'd have to say that these photos are a significantly tamer than other ads and protests PETA is infamous for.
Pictures after the break.
