How Are You Dealing with the Cost of Groceries?
July 1, 2008 · Print This Article
Sam Van Eman works for CCO Campus Ministry and blogs about faith in the discipline of advertisting at New Breed of Advertisers. Sam really gets what we’re trying to do here at HighCallingBlogs.com.
In an email recently, he told me, “I enjoy speaking about work and faith in a distinct manner (maybe that’s the influence of the CCO on me)… All of what we do IS a high calling, but I am most interested in helping folks understand the 9-5 portion of their lives in light of faith. Again, I don’t think this area is most important; it’s just where I am most interested.”
I share that interest, Sam. So I popped over to his blog again and found that I was still moved by his post Ad folk, help the suffering rich. He points out, “16% of people making more than $100,000 per year ‘have trouble affording the groceries they need’?! Are you serious?”
Then he asks a question of advertisers specifically. How might your work improve the way people view need and want? Well, I’m no advertiser, but I figure regular consumers can still think about how advertising affects the way we view what we need and want.
Certainly, the video Tina Howard posted at Spaghettipie has got me thinking about what I want and what I need and what other things can be done with that money. Whatever you think of The Eight Dollar Hot Dog, it doesn’t offer any easy answers.
These two posts left me wondering this morning. Have you seen any ads that glorified God lately? I’m not talking about ads for church or black billboards with God asking if you can come over before the game. I mean, have you seen any business ads, doing what ads do normally, and still glorifying God at the same time?
(As way of example, consider this ad for Honda that concludes, “Isn’t it nice when things work?” It is nice. And it’s by the grace of God and a tremendous amount of good design and diligence when things work. That’s an edifying thought, isn’t it?)
[...] Sam Van Eman and Tina Howard got me wondering about the high calling of advertising and media with some recent posts of theirs. I elaborated more on this over at HighCallingBlogs.com. [...]
Speaking of ads that work, there’s a Traveler’s Insurance ad that I like. I comment on it over at New Breed of Advertisers.
Maybe I’m cheating with this next one since public service advertising offers so many ads that glorify God, even if indirectly. Here it is anyway because I really like it: Candle
Oh, I really like Sam’s blog a lot. I used to work in advertising as an artist, and frankly I struggled with how many ads did NOT glorify God for various reasons (some of the worst being when a product itself seemed unjustified or of poor quality). I admire that he seems able to work in the ad industry, with a clear head and a passionate heart.
L.L., thanks for commenting! You got me wondering what kind of product would be unjustified. Are some products justified for some people and not others? Or rather, what kind of product would be clearly justified–and what kind of ad might glorify God in promoting such a product?
Marcus, not an easy question (questions?). To my mind, products that are about convenience, to the detriment of our environment, are unjustified for instance. How about those Swiffer products, say? Or disposable dust cloths? Plastic plates, spoons, and cups are also doubtful (though after the birth of both of my children, we used disposable dinnerwear because we were just so darn tired). Clearly, the consumer bears part of the burden then, in deciding when a product is justifiable.
I’m thinking one would have to consider principles… beauty, usefulness, world impact, and so on to begin a dialog on this issue.
As Sam points out, advertising is often an antithesis to our modern consumer culture. Madison Avenue tells us to “buy just because we’re worth it”, while Jesus tells us to consume less, give more.
Check out http://www.redletterbelievers.blogspot.com on July 5 for a discussion on businesses that mix faith and mannah!
[...] Happy Fourth of July! I really shouldn’t be posting today, but I couldn’t resist linking to this great interview on Sam Van Eman’s blog New Breed of Advertisers. Especially since the interviewee, Scott K. Powell is a professor of marketing and addresses the question we posed earlier in the week on How Are You Dealing with the Cost of Groceries? [...]