The Gruen Transfer last night (or tonight if you caught it on ABC 2) had a segment on how religion uses advertising.
They looked at the Jesus: All About Life TV ad from last year.
Todd Samson reckons the Jesus is cool, the church is bad thing was based on sound research – but that the church is let down by the “retail experience” which is church. He reckons Hillsong has done this well.
Russel Howcroft said the ads worked, and numbers increased.
One of the other panelists made a point that preaching to the converted is a valid and necessary function of advertising.
The next ad was a Scientology spot. “Know yourself, know life” – it was, in the words of one of the panelists “pure motivational speech,” and it didn’t feature any ugly people.
Todd says religions have traditionally been about community. And the scientology ad tries to capture that.
The next spot was a Scientology ad featuring Tom Cruise – for people within the cult. Russel calls Tom Cruise a total “brain smashing” advantage for the converted Scientology people. He says “aspiration is so important in branding” and celebrity endorsements are a key part of that. Todd says it’s “influencing the influencers.”
The Mormons had a really weird ad that tapped into familial guilt. A little girl asks her mum to go rollerskating with her, she says no, the precocious kid reminds her that she’ll grow up to be a disconnected teenager. One of the Gruen panellists said the whole thing looked plastic, was horribly out of touch, and that it was pretty awful.
Then my favourite. Answers in Genesis. With the kid in a singlet with a pistol. Wil Anderson quips “Are you feeling Godly Punk?” – “will scaring people into religion help?” Todd quips “I thought that’s what Hell was for.”
Todd says religious advertising is run most often in tough times. Todd has an impressive grasp of the argument Answers in Genesis is making about evolution and morality. He calls it an awful piece of communication. They are preaching to the converted. Fear is good at keeping people in, but not attracting people in.
If you missed the episode check out this advert for Australian Christian television:
Comments
Watched Gruen on Wednesday night.
The comments about the church had some useful insight.
‘The product is good, but the shop-fronts keep letting it down.’
Todd Sampson’s comment about Hillsong was not unexpected, but still confronting.
My daughter asked me about the CTA ad: ‘What was that supposed to mean?’
I told her that was the standard response to every CTA ad, and that there was no answer.
No answer at all.
They look vapid, stupid and insipid now, but they looked vapid, stupid and insipid then as well.
What a waste of years and years of free television spots.
[…] is to question our branding strategy. If people are thinking bad things about church, but still, according to the Gruen Transfer, thinking good things about Jesus, then perhaps we need a change in terminology. It seems like a […]