Comments on: advertising breeds alienation

By: Gary

Gary — Sat, 13 Nov 2004 17:09:49 +0000

Marketing reps only count for 3/5 of a person, and so does their vote.

By: Nash

Nash — Sat, 13 Nov 2004 10:24:50 +0000

Well everyone seems to vote on what the under thrity crowd says, except for those actually under thirty. They don’t get to..so vote!

And no, marketing reps are not people, if they do not get to vote on the fact that they are people.

By: david

david — Sat, 13 Nov 2004 06:44:49 +0000

i now hate the word pendulum.

marketing reps are people too.

if the under thirty crowd is to be generalized about then we would all want to have a vote about it.

By: Nash

Nash — Sat, 13 Nov 2004 00:44:00 +0000

I would say there’s alot of truth in that statement overall. Plus it comes from The Penguin himself!

I know some people will be hesitant to apply this quote to Christianity, because it simply isn’t what they want to hear…but coming from the standpoint of the under thirty crowd (whose pendulum is grounded, not swingin’), I would say that this is deffinitly how most non-Christians view everything from church advertising to evangelism.

That said, and if that is recognized, then how do we go about changing that perspective and putting things into a more positive light? By being relational, I would say.

By: Gary

Gary — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 20:34:29 +0000

I’m not sure if this quote entirely applies for this specific discussion, and maybe it belongs in a completely different topic, but when I heard it the other day, it reminded me of the conversation.

“You preaching Jesus is no different than Larry or anybody else preaching lubricants. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling Jesus or Buddha or civil rights or how to make money in real estate with no money down. That doesn’t make you a human being, it makes you a marketing rep. If you want to talk to somebody honestly, as a human being, ask him about his kids, find out what his dreams are, just to find out, for no other reason. Because as soon as you lay your hands on a conversation to steer it, it’s not a conversation. It’s a pitch. And you’re not a human being, you’re a marketing rep.”
- Danny Devito, from “The Big Kahuna”

By: Dean

Dean — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 08:10:35 +0000

Zach’s truth is not the same as your truth. It’s relational truth - he relates to his deoderant and it doesn’t matter what he calls it because he is true to it and it is true to him.

By: john

john — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 07:45:48 +0000

make up your mind — is it old spice or right guard?

By: Zach

Zach — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 05:55:53 +0000

this right guard is still not getting me more chicks.

By: Dean

Dean — Thu, 11 Nov 2004 23:14:40 +0000

Brewster, You made plenty of sense! Thanks for weighing in. If our hearts are to be about lost people, lets not lose ourselves in an anti-advertising campaign to end all campaigning. Lets use the minds God has given us and pour our hearts into reaching lost people. Let’s also not become a church that thinks that the impersonal avenue of advertising will change lives. Advertising changes nothing. It simply puts you into contact with people whom you may have never been able to meet before. We then pray that the Holy Spirit does His work and moves in their life through your relationship or the experience of your worship.

I’m simply asking for a balanced pendulum. (I may need “pendulum” to become my new monicker.

By: Brewster

Brewster — Thu, 11 Nov 2004 05:23:22 +0000

Its kinda funny that this topic is being discussed, because just a week or so ago I was doing a demographic study thing and found that in the schools where most of my high school kids attend there are 27,000 students. In the last year 600 of those have actually been to our weekly program…and only 180 or so come every week.

200 out of 27,000. It kinda blew me away. Its less than 1%. And even with other churches in the area…its not much. And how many of the 200 in my group are sincere or even really truly understand being a Christ follower?

I then thought…wouldn’t it be awesome to advertise our weekly program on the radio…or TV…some way to mass market that we even exist. But how? Without being cheesy or strange?

I’ve grown up in a generation that kinda hates advertising. The “Man” has been selling stuff to us our entire life. I don’t like it. It bugs me… But then again…it seems more effective than nothing.

Advertising (and I’m talking about mass ads or getting out thousands of little postcards–which we do)is kinda enticing. I mean…out of those 27,000 students…only 600-800 of them would even know my students. Part of me wants to say we ought to use any means we can find to get people in. About 30% of the kids that visit what we do keep coming back for a while…and ultimately hear (and hopefully see) the gospel.

TRULY I agree that the draw for the church should be the love of Christ…and word of mouth…more of an organic approach…a true movement. But is it really that anymore in our country? I know it should be…but does anyone see that happening? Maybe in China…but in the USA?

The problem isn’t advertising or not advertising, but maybe something more at the core of the church in the USA. I don’t quite know what the answers are…

Advertising is fairly easy. Prayer is not…and almost seems ineffective in our instant results society. Telling my kids to invite friends is also fairly easy. Me being broken about the other 80-90% of the student population that doesn’t know God…it feels like I’m too busy to even think about it.

You know how Jesus tells the parable about the man with 100 sheep. 99 are found. 1 is lost. Its worth it for the 1 sheep to drop everything. In my case 1 is found and 99 are lost…

That all didn’t totally make sense. And I didn’t really completely finish my thought.

Alright thats it.