A statue of the Virgin Mary with a Javelin anti-tank weapon has already brought in far more money than Canadian ex-journalist and marketer Christian Borys had imagined. With the ‘holy Javelin’ he wanted to collect “a few hundred dollars” for the benefit of Ukrainian war victims. An underestimate: the counter now stands at more than 1.16 million Canadian dollars, which is more than 825,000 euros.
Read everything about the Russian invasion in this dossier.
Borys has unwittingly launched a viral marketing campaign. The 35-year-old Toronto marketer had 100 stickers printed depicting the Virgin Mary holding an American-made FGM-148 anti-tank missile. The anti-tank weapon, better known as Javelin, is extremely important for the Ukrainians to be able to defend themselves against the Russians. The US and NATO allies are also said to have shipped more than 17,000 anti-tank missiles, including Javelins, to Ukraine.
The proceeds of Borys’ action will go to the relatives of fallen Ukrainian soldiers and to soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. “I thought I could find some friends who would give me $10 so I could donate something like $500,” said Borys, who started his sticker sale before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But the fundraiser went much better than expected. The meme of the Madonna with Javelin went viral and became a powerful symbol of the Ukrainian struggle against the Russian aggressor. The marketer now sells the image on tote bags and sweatshirts, on flags and stickers. It’s been “overwhelming,” with thousands of orders a day, he says. Borys has already collected more than 1.16 million Canadian dollars (827,000 euros). Net profit goes entirely to the charitable organization Help Us Help.
Christian Borys is of Ukrainian descent and worked as a journalist in Ukraine from 2014 to 2018, where he also lived. He still has a lot of contact with Ukrainian friends. He said he was deeply moved by the sad fate of widows and orphans who had created the conflict in the Donbas. That conflict started in 2014 when separatists, backed by Moscow, seized parts of the region. A few years later, he saw a new war approaching the country. “I didn’t want to be left behind,” he told the BBC from his father’s home in Poland near the Ukrainian border. Borys helps coordinate relief shipments for a local non-governmental organization.
Borys is not himself the originator of the concept of the ‘sacred Javelin’. In 2012, the American artist Chris Shaw painted a Madonna with a gilded AK-47, a Kalashnikov. After that, memes appeared online in which the Kalashnikov was replaced by a rocket launcher. Borys’ stickers were based on that. He started selling them before the Russian invasion, with an order for two stickers on day 1. The next day, orders rose to $1,000 ($710). Borys also put the stickers on Instagram and then it went to 5,000 dollars (3,560 euros). But on February 24, the day Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, the orders really boomed, to an amount of no less than 45,000 dollars (32,000 euros). Two days later, the applications peaked to 170,000 dollars (121,000 euros) in 24 hours. “It went completely viral,” said Borys.
He is aware that donations will continue to be an issue long after the war. “Decades of reconstruction will be needed due to the magnitude of the destruction,” he said. “There will be mines all over the country, and wrecked tanks and things like that. And then there are all the displaced persons and refugees.” Borys wants to make aid to Ukraine “his life’s work” with a sustainable company. “I can’t keep running this with a hodgepodge of volunteers.”
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