Sunday November 26, 2006
Church ad campaign creates shock and dismay
The U.S. media spent much of the week being scandalized by Michael Richards\’ racist outburst during a standup comedy routine. You probably know Richards better as Cosmo Kramer on the former Seinfeld sitcom series.
sp; Several news stories were so appalled that they never mentioned the offending word, “nigger.”
Canadians, I guess, get upset about other things. In the circles I move in, the word causing shock and dismay is “bobblehead.”
A bobblehead is, of course, a dashboard ornament whose head bounces at every bump. Some car owners consider them entertaining. Some consider them a good luck charm.
But in this case, the bobblehead is supposed to be Jesus.
The image comes from an advertising campaign recently launched by The United Church of Canada. The campaign has six full-page magazine ads.
- The bobblehead Jesus.
- Jesus in the Santa chair at the mall.
- A new baby, wearing a “warning” wristband.
- A Bible bristling with “Agree” and “Disagree” sticky notes.
- A spray can of whipping cream, captioned, “How much fun can sex be before it\’s a sin?”
- A traditional wedding cake with figurines of two men on top.
Not since Charles Harvey of the Ottawa Citizen made a screaming headline out of a casual comment by former moderator Bill Phipps — that he did not equate Jesus with God — has theology generated as much discussion.
Not disinterested
At this point, I should declare my own bias. I have lived within the United Church all my life. I have volunteered since I was 18; I worked for it for 13 years. During my book-publishing career, the United Church was our biggest customer.
I am, in other words, not a disinterested observer.
That doesn\’t mean I support everything my church has said or done. At times, I have disagreed strongly with, even protested against, some church policies.
But not this time.
I was not involved in developing the current ad campaign. Indeed, I barely knew of it until I chanced to attend a presentation in September.
Nevertheless, because of my known church association, I seem to have become a lightning rod for those who consider the ads distasteful, misleading, offensive, even disgraceful.
Three rebuttals
Three things need to be said:
1. No money from any church donations went into this campaign. None. Zero. Nada. The funding – about $10.5 million – came from a bequest specifically designated for innovative ways of reaching out to unchurched people.
So it could not have been distributed to the poor, as some have suggested. Nor could it have been used to prop up struggling congregations.
Some critics have objected that church members were not consulted. True. But neither are pew-sitters consulted directly about thousands of other decisions. Those decisions are delegated to elected representatives. As was this one.
2. There are no television ads. Most of the protests have come from people who glimpsed the content on television. But those were news stories, not paid ads. After the venerable Globe and Mail did a full-page feature on the campaign, other media leaped on the bandwagon. Inevitably, they selected the most controversial images.
Television inevitably distorts the ads\’ message. Magazine readers have time to read the text; viewers do not. Magazine readers have time to consider their reaction; viewers merely react.
During his studies at Columbia University in New York, Eric McLuhan – son of Marshall McLuhan – showed that television and print affect the human brain differently. Television, as emitted light, stimulates the emotional right brain; print, as reflected light, influences the more analytical left brain.
To judge a print ad, based on a brief television exposure, is almost certainly misleading.
3. The ads were not aimed at today\’s church members. They were intended for 30-45 year olds who have pretty much given up on any church.
Although over 80 per cent of Canadians still profess belief in God and consider faith important, only 19 per cent still attend church weekly. As one commentator noted, “people are looking for spirituality everywhere but in churches.”
About a third of the $10.5 million went to research the attitudes of people whose last contact with church was 20 or more years ago. They think of church as intimidating, stuffy, and judgemental, boring, unwilling to change…
In fact, the church – especially, perhaps, the United Church — has changed. But the 30-45 year olds don\’t know it.
How else?
Frankly, I don\’t expect these ads to bring hordes of people into United Churches.
If it does, I fear that visitors may encounter church members who are just as stodgy and judgemental as they remembered. The major flaw in this campaign, to my mind, is a lack of training for the representatives who have to close the sale, the local members.
If the church is merely a social club for existing members, this ad campaign will be a failure.
But if the church\’s mission is to get people thinking about the role of religion and faith in daily life, about their relationship with what AA calls a “higher power,” then it has already succeeded.
In the first week alone, over 32,000 people logged onto www.WonderCafé.ca
I would ask critics how they would convince a sceptical generation that the church is NOT stodgy, judgemental, set in its ways, and unwilling to change?
- With pictures of an ethereal man wearing a halo?
- With pictures of a heart, ripped from a living chest, dripping blood?
- With videos of good-hearted persons huddled in meetings?
- With buildings whose architecture restricts any mission but maintaining the architecture?
The people who developed the WonderCafe campaign at least had some new ideas.
nbsp;Instead of chipping away at their efforts, United Church members might better celebrate their creativity. And figure out ways of capitalizing on whatever results come, good or bad.
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Copyright © 2006 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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For a lighter look at ethics, faith, and life, I recommend Ralph Milton\’s weekly e-newsletter Rumors. You can subscribe to it at the Wood Lake Books home page in Ralph Milton\’s Site, or by sending a note directly to [email protected].
It\’s also worth pursuing Charlene Fairchild\’s United Online site. Another site worth visiting is David Keating\’s \”SeemslikeGod\” page.