Commercials For Religions ???

[heydude]

So, the Morman Church has been having more and more ads.

"I'm a firefighter, a mother, and I'm a morman"

now, the catholic church is featuring commercials on TV as well. "we wrote the bible, come home."

there is something unsettling about religion advertising itself?

is it that bad off?

if someone is going to choose religion, are they going to do it from a commercial?

the commercial doesn't even talk about what they believe in, what makes them different from the million other religions.

i think it is creepy.

has consumerism overtaken religion as well? ugh.

[happystuff]

I've seen those commercials - lol. I find it humorous that the religion commercials are the same as any other advertisements in the "claims" they make/"facts" they state. >8)

[Anne Lee]

I've noticed the commercials tend to be more PR than marketing. While most people on this board are disaffected from TV and commercials, most people who watch TV are not. Otherwise, commercials wouldn't work. I don't think there is anything wrong with necessarily since faith communities do have a message to convey and television is one way to do it.

[Bronxboy]

Mormons have used TV commercials for a long time, 15 years or more. I suspect they are looking to improve their overall acceptance in society as much as they are looking for converts.

The Catholic Church is quite new to it, having recognized that former Catholics are the second largest denomination in America. I'll save my opinions on that for another post.

[CathyA]

I thought they had to do with Romney's run for the presidency.

[JaneV2.0]

I'm sure I'm still on the rolls of the Catholic church, making me part of the CINO denomination of which Bronxboy speaks. I could go off on a rant about organized religion--I feel one coming on--but for the good of the order, I'll stifle myself.

[Tweety]

I saw the Catholic ad; it was a "come home, we miss you" plea to former Catholics more than a sales pitch.

[peggy]

I saw the catholic ad today for the first time. Very strange, although as previously stated, the Mormons have been doing ads for quite some time too. So have Scientology.
I think the problem religion has is that they tout a 16th century doctrine in an increasingly progressive society. Smoke and mirrors become more obvious as modern life strips the curtain from the magic. We haven't become less 'moral' as some religious persons like to say, but rather we have become more educated. And that's not a bad thing. It just is what it is.
I think the ads are a response to that. Churches, and organized religion in general, are losing control of the masses, and they are using the modern means at their disposal to try to regain some of that control. Personally I think they will, in the long run, lose. The moment they took themselves out of the 'clouds' and put themselves in the same market as all the other products, they opened themselves to the market, and i think most will choose to 'not buy', considering the sacrifices and requirements that religion demands.

[Bronxboy]

I thought they had to do with Romney's run for the presidency.

Cathy, it crossed my mind that the latest ads were meant to support Mitt Romney's campaign as I wrote my first reply.

[Bronxboy]

I'm sure I'm still on the rolls of the Catholic church, making me part of the CINO denomination of which Bronxboy speaks.
I'm making that transition right now, though it's more like accepting the 50+ year failure of my indoctrination to take.

[heydude]

yeah, i thought of romney since the very first "new" morman commercial. it really is about saying that mormans are regular people. because, the lines are, "i'm a teacher, a home maker, and i'm a morman" instead of something that actually tells you about the religion. they are mostly saying that they are like everybody else.

Peggy,
good points! also, i think the only way religion holds is if you believe it is the only way. you grow up with it, since birth, thinking that what the religion is telling you is true. the minute you get to "decide" what religion you want to be, the whole thing falls a part. religion works when there is no other way, no thought outside their thought, to say that you can decide means there is something else there to choose, which means "it is this way cause it is this way" doesn't work anymore.

[bae]

also, i think the only way religion holds is if you believe it is the only way. you grow up with it, since birth, thinking that what the religion is telling you is true. the minute you get to "decide" what religion you want to be, the whole thing falls a part. religion works when there is no other way, no thought outside their thought, ....

You trivialize the thinking of men like Kurt Gödel and Alfred North Whitehead by painting things such.

[Greg44]

Our Church (LDS aka Mormon) has run ads for 30+ years - I think they use to be called "home front" ads. I can guarrantee they are not in support of either Romney or Huntsman, but they are in part because of their running.

The Church has been more in the public eye and the Church is receiving more inquiries from the public and news organizations. The Church is very careful to be politically neutral. I have not heard any mention over the pulpit of either one of the LDS candidates running for President, either directly or implied.

Our Church gets so much miss information spoken about it - they have tried to be pro-active in protecting their image.

I have noticed the Catholic ads of late - "return to your parish" TV ads. I did think it was strange, just because I had never heard them advertise is such a manner.

[Bronxboy]

Greg, it is surprising me that people seem so unfamiliar with the Mormon Church. I've met and worked with members often in my career and social circles.

Several of my better drinking stories involve lapsed Mormons, which probably says more about the places I've hung around in over the years than anything else.

[Greg44]

Bronxboy - I would say in the Western U.S.A. the Church is much more prominent than the East Coast.

The mis-representations still blow me away. The biggest being that we are not Christians, we worship Joseph Smith, we don't believe in the Bible, we all have large families and drive mini-vans, etc. etc. All of which are so not true - we drive a Camry! :laff:

[Spartana]

I remember seeing "ads" from the LDS (Mormon) church when I was a kid. They were always very uplifting and family focused with a positive message rather than a religious message. I like them. When I was a teenager we would go to "Mormon Dances" - dances for teenagers held at the LDS church. They were a great alternatives to the wild party scene that was the '70s - what with all those drugs, sex and rock and roll :-)! Even a wildchild like me was accepted for myself (I was of the no-drugs and no-sex crowd but a BIG rocker chick) and made to feel at home. It was great and I never felt pressure to join the church or learn about the LDS (although I did when I was older). I think people have a very misguided view of Mormons that, hopefully, some commercials will dispell - or at least pique people's interest in learning more about Mormons and the Church of LDS. Like Greg44, I'm always shocked (and saddened) by peoples ideas that Mormons aren't Christians - nothing is further from the truth.