Johannesburg — THE Advertising Standards Authority has received "a lot of complaints" about a Sandton billboard bearing the headline "Jesus saves. So does DOC-IT."

DOC-IT, a software management system, had come under attack for blasphemous statements and for "using Christ's name in vain", said the company yesterday.

Guerilla Marketing, the company behind the controversial campaign, has defended the advertisement, saying that "the parallel between Jesus the Saviour and DOC-IT the saviour is done in the utmost respectful manner".

The company said the idea was that DOC-IT provided a substantial financial "saving" for companies that used it.

The ASA said it had received "a lot of complaints" about the advert.

"We are in the process of considering it," said Gail Schimmel, head of legal and regulatory affairs at the authority.

Religion in advertising had been known to create controversy, with Virgin Mobile's advert featuring St Peter and the Pearly Gates being the most complained about advert in the history of the ASA, according to Schimmel.

"Religion is a tough one. In this case we would assess the complaints based on whether they are mocking basic tenets (of a religion)," she said.

She said the ASA was awaiting "expert" opinion from the SA Council of Churches as to whether the billboard ad was belittling Christianity.

The council has until next week to respond to the advert, said Schimmel. She added that the ASA would make a ruling next week, whether or not the body had received a response.

She said that because campaigns ran for a set period, the ASA could not wait for expert opinion for too long. This would defeat the purpose of having an advertising complaints board.

Desiree Gullan, creative director at Guerilla Marketing, further defended the campaign, saying the billboard proved that Jesus really did save.

"After all, He saved a small business from being unknown to one that is busy following up on sales enquiries and negotiating contracts both in SA and our neighbouring countries such as Botswana," she said.

A viral e-mail campaign by the marketing company, telling people they owed R30000 to SARS, landed it in hot water earlier this year.

The mail asked readers to click on a button which would take them to DOC-IT's website and assure them that the message was just a hoax.

"The problem was that nobody clicked on the button," said Gullan.

This resulted in the company being hauled in front of a tribunal hearing when SARS received numerous complaints from worried taxpayers. It was told never to repeat the campaign, which it agreed not to do.

"I would never go for a government organisation again," said Gullan. "I think I'd rather stick to religion and celestial bodies -- who can't sue us."