catching up with ben & laura

Jesus, all about …. what?!

September 28, 2009 at 9:13 pm · Filed under carpe diem

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Reactions to this campaign have been interesting to say the least.I happened across a well written blog on why the author has been so far disappointed with the JAAL production.

My own thoughts have varied – on its introduction to our church, I was excited, looking forward to the possibility of discussing the ads we had been shown. The marketing was clever, well researched, and the ads professional and thought provoking. Now, however, I think it is an opportunity missed, and I feel jipped – jipped because a whole lot of money has gone into this, and the marketing that was approved by churches changed at some point.

We were ashamed as we watched ROVE, The 7pm Project and other media outlets ridicule the campaign, because on some levels they were dead right. Images of hot chips, moles, birds etc etc are a particularly odd way to “sell” someone we profess to be our Creator, redeemer and Living God – especially when it comes across in such an abstract and confusing manner.

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What kind of censorship could there be, when one of the two websites encourages you, me, anyone to upload their ‘thankyou’ messages direct to the website? I would think this would be an open invitation to those that despise the God of the Bible to have a lot of “fun” at our expense…

According to 303 (the group behind the marketing) they are considering the campaign a success. What I am greatly surprised about is their stated goal for marketing: to lure lapsed Christians back to Jesus…?! Could that statement be any more confusing/conflicting/confronting? I was not aware this was a primary goal, and it surprises me greatly.

I’m not a fan of having two websites for one topic – it automatically suggests an “us” and “you” mentallity that pushes the divide further. The biggest issue I have with the addresses though, is that one removes the very essence of the campaign from its address – JESUS.

Regardless of good intentions, I see this campaign as unhelpful, misdirected and confusing, presented in a manner that to me sells Jesus as a joke, an opportunity to reduce him in human terms rather than allowing His biblical status as wholly God to stand on its own as reason to initiate discussion with our friends and family.

Refund please.

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2 Comments »

Kevin wrote @ October 10th, 2009 at 8:16 pm

Spot on Laura. The ads that churches were shown in the material that was used to sign them up are not the ads that have been shown. Disappointing would be an understatement. The organisers are trying to stifle any negative criticism from churches. It’s been pretty embarrasing!

Scott Donnellan wrote @ October 17th, 2009 at 1:26 pm

Laura, thanks for your nsightful comments. Here’s som brief thoughts I liked the original ads. The three different ads spoke well to the young adult, family person, and seniors, with no cringe factor. Each ad just made one point and focussed on the value of listening to what Jesus had to say to us, and finding out more. They then provided the way that people could find out more.

The lifestage specific nature of those ads and the questions they raised seem to hit the mark in terms of the issues non-Christians think about in regards to God and their lives.

In contrast, the new generic is a one size fits all approach, and raises too many issues in 30 seconds for people to adequately process (sunshine & sunburn, relationships & isolation, convenience & time shortage, hope & anxiety, weight & self-esteem, life & death of a pet – all in 30 seconds!). The tag line at the end about Jesus having answers seems too brief to be as meaningful as it could be.

In addition, the inclusion only of a website only and absence of a phone number means several things:
a. There is no person-person contact for inquirers
b. Anyone without internet access is excluded from finding out Jesus’ answers to the questions the ad raises. This is a significant issue for elderly people, who often do not have internet, and are much more likely to be closer to death than younger people. Their opportunities to hear the gospel are slipping away, and so we need to make it easy not hard for them to gain access to the gospel. This matter has been raised with the Bible Society by one of our local pastors.

Anyway, those are my rambling thoughts. It’s just as well our evangelism doesn’t depend on an ad campaign.