The Simple Pastor
Simplicity & Generosity
Lifestyle Choices: Here’s a good observation from Gary McMurray after watching some TV. I think he’s right when he... http://bit.ly/aEsQmm 17 hrs ago
Donald Miller thinks so or does he? In this post on commercialism and faith he says,
“Commercials are simply an exchange of information about the availability of products and services. The idea of a commercial is, in my opinion, morally neutral.”
But what he goes on to say undermines this morally neutral idea, so he says about adverts that,
“these images and messages are designed to cause to you think of your life as incomplete…Rather than being satisfied, a person begins to believe their life is lacking, whether it is actually lacking or not.”
That,
“The idea is to convince you that you aren’t going to be happy unless you purchase something. And make no mistake, this is a powerful manipulative tool.” (his emphasis)
So how can something be morally neutral if it is a manipulative tool, aimed at making you dissatisfied and discontented, and that your life is both lacking and incomplete? If that is what an advert is, it is more than just passing on information. If that is what an advert is, it’s hard to see how it can be morally neutral. So is that what an advert is?
Yesterday I gave you a climate change set of links. This one is themed too. No surprise it’s consumerism!
You would think no one could make this stuff up and be serious about it. I mean really. Who actually falls for this?
OK, where do we start? The premise of the advert is that modern life constrains us, forces and squeezes us into a generic bland consumer one-size-fits-all mould. It shows us all facing the dull hindrances of life, with dull jobs just like everyone else. Just like everyone else.
So far it’s compelling, it’s a line we’ll buy because it has the grain of truth to it. Much of life does exactly that, or at least that’s the way we let it unfold. Of course God is in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary, the rainy day as much as the glorious sun rise and set. God is with the street cleaner, office temp and call-centre operator as much as the fire woman, paramedic, celebrity adventurer or whatever other glamour job we imagine. But there’s something that usually encourages us to miss that point.
And there’s an irony. TV reminds us on a daily basis that our lives are dull but what we see through the screen is interesting, fascinating and worthy of comment. Most of it quite blatantly is none of the above. LG on the other hand are convinced that a life of unrestricted possibilities (cue muscled man jumping into the ocean in his trousers), a life where we achieve our full potential, the life we’ve always dreamed of can be achieved if we bought one of their new TV’s with bluetooth technology. Now you know.
If these had been around at the time of Queen Elisabeth there would be no Shakespeare. I mean come on, do we really think in a 100 years time we’re going to look back on today and say, ‘the golden age of culture was when they made X-factor’? TV doesn’t open up possibilities for us to live, it narrows them down – but it cons us that it’s the other way around. It’s an illusion.
LG (life’s good) isn’t simply selling TV’s but the promise of freedom, the promise of real life, the promise of individuality (to the millions that buy LG), it’s offering salvation from dreariness and drabness. You can see where this is going?
It’s counterfeit, it’s fake but our culture must produce these promises because despite our rejection of the old sources of such hopes (such as Christianity) we still need to believe that there is more to life than this. There is. Switch off the TV and find out.
Actually this isn’t a proper adbust. In fact Dove have done most of the hard work for me.
HT: Richard Walker “In it’s so-called wisdom, our culture has tried to divorce just about everything from its source in Christ, including notions of beauty and strength. Beauty is vanity unless it springs from Christ-like reverent holiness. Strength is vanity if it isn’t, merciful, just and self-giving like Jesus.” – Great quote
I’m enjoying getting acquainted with the sermons of William Willimon. Here’s a gem,
“As far as I can tell, public discourse in our society is now owned entirely by advertising. We are a culture of omnivorous desire. Our conversation tends to be limited, even at college, to ‘Here are my needs, appetites, yearnings, and desires; now, how can I fulfil them?’ Everything, everyone exists only to satisfy my relentless need, with no critique of which needs are really worth having.”
Sums it up quite well.
This article by philosopher and author Alain de Botton in the Observer is well worth a read. Here are a few highlights,
“I’m routinely astonished by how seriously people in power take the impact of advertising on children and how relatively unbothered they are by its impact on adults. At what precise moment is one supposed to accede to that magical age when one can be confident enough not to be seduced by the satanic genius of advertisers?”
and,
“Google, Twitter, Facebook, email, the iPhone, the Blackberry and the web have all finally conspired to kill our ability to be alone and unstimulated. Our unaided minds can no longer possibly hope to emulate the thrills available from these devilish technologies. Sales of serious books have plunged 39% since this time last year. We are at an epochal moment. Our intelligence has ended up making us stupid; it’s a miracle if you are still reading.”
Some ads are subtle and others are less so like this one.
They even have a website where you can learn good reasons to be selfish which is hardly a quality our nation is short of. Time is apparently ‘woman’s greatest enemy’ and the way to freedom, the way to harness time, the way to make it your friend is to be selfish, is to have more ‘me’ time.
It’s a concept which I hear a lot, it’s an idea that is most definitely in the church, it’s in my life. I need ‘me’ time, to focus on myself and that’s just one step from saying “It’s OK for me to be selfish.”
It is good to spend some time in quiet, to do things on you enjoy, it is good to have time for reflection but it is never good to be selfish. A selfish approach to time means I’m deliberately putting myself above others, I’m consciously making MY agenda the top one, the prime one, the most important one. Life, even for a short time, becomes about me. For most people this is entirely reasonable but for someone whose life belongs to Christ it’s not so reasonable. In fact you could argue it’s sin.
We need a radically different view of time that frees us from the demands of a busy life. that sees it as a gift and every moment to be enjoyed. For that try this from Tim Chester or consider this from the Promise of Life,
“Because life is a gift, we live it thankfully
Savour what we have
Pray for what we need.
No longer hurried, distracted, or worried,
We’ll walk through each moment with God”
Don’t be selfish, be free
A world without money is an attractive idea, one replaced by kindness is even better. In fact the kindness idea is at the heart of Christian ethics in how we treat and do business with one another. Only this rendering of it hasn’t been imagined by a church but by a vodka company. What’s going on? Not only that but it’s the Vodka company that are putting that into action (well for a week anyway)
It’s a Vodka company that says, “In An ABSOLUT World, purses, wallets and jingling pocketfuls of change would be things of the past as Acts of Kindness became the new currency.Your riches would genuinely reflect what you added to the world. In An ABSOLUT World, who would the millionaires be? Would you be one?”
They’ve even co-opted it into a kindness movement although because it’s a drinks company only those over 18 can join.
On the one hand any promoting of kindness is good, any challenging of greed is good but it’s a shame that in our world it needs to be done by companies, that moral virtues are now also commercial campaigns. That we need a drinks company rather than the church to call the world to kindness through creative thinking and use of media.
Ironically though for if a world was this good we probably wouldn’t be drinking vodka.
It’s a shame on churches all across the country that when someone wants to build community in our nation they turn to a credit card company for help. Should be our job. Still anything that does that is a good thing. Why not consider joining in
I was beaten to the punch on blogging this advert by McFlurry, which is the second Japanese firm to use an old Sunday School chorus (the other was Sony for their PSP), this ransacking of my childhood for consumerism is slightly distressing. I feel a rant coming on.
Honda who it seems can harness ‘the power of dreams’ have now found a way for us to be good. What can possibly be a greater dream? A way to absolve myself of guilt, a way to be one with the world, and still get from A-B in comfort. We can buy a hybrid car. From them. Now I’m all for new technologies that can reduce the impact of millions of cars. Hybrids are a good thing going in the right direction. But does this mean that those of us with old petrol cars are bad? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe not.
But is the way to be good, the way to be righteous living greener? Environmentalism is a new religion, no question, and with a new religion comes a new set of pharisees. The green lobby has them in spades. So can I become good by buying a new car?
We should let our lights shine and that should be about good deeds towards people and the earth. When the time comes to replace your car (that time being when the old one neither works or can fit your family in) it should be the greenest you can possibly manage, but to think that righteousness comes from trading in one car for another?
No, there is only one way to be good and that comes by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.
It can leave me speechless, on the edge of my seat and make me sing out loud. Television according to SKY is ‘sometimes amazing.’ I’m glad they had the decency to include the word ‘sometimes’ because mostly TV is repetitive, banal, boring or immoral especially with the explosion of channels.
But I’m missing it from being just your plain old ordinary ‘amazing’ to the ‘even more amazing’ High Definition amazing. I had no idea there were grades of amazingness, but it seems there are. Because the next time I’m witnessing an historic event, like say the pictured inauguration of America’s first black president, it will become even more memorable because I’m so impressed by the picture quality. Is it just me or is that a load of rubbish? (although they may be right about the Aussie wicket thing)
But of course some people do love their TV, it is their comfort, their drug, their soothing noise in the background, the faithful provider of constant news, information and entertainment. Until the advent of the internet no one informed you of gossip better than the TV. It is their source of morality and the big difference between Big Brother and reality is that there’s no TV in the Big Brother House making it very unreal and not in a good way.
But now the more amazing TV is apparently, ‘for everyone’ and Sky calls you to ‘believe in better.’ Believe in better. Absolutely, couldn’t agree more. People should believe in better. They should believe in a better world where children don’t die for lack of food, water, safety, medicine. They should believe in a better environment, just societies and trains that work. People should believe in the better that resides in the teachings of Jesus. But believing in better doesn’t mean going out and buying a better TV and subscribing to Sky. Sorry, it just doesn’t.
So if you’re curious to know what I’m ranting about – watch the video here
The title of this advert, is ‘Two lives, one phone’. You can have two lives – a work life and a home life. Having this phone joins them up. Not sure how this is any different from any other phone but never mind that now. This phone makes the work/life balance possible, equilibrium and a contented life are all at your disposal if you have this phone.
If my work and personal life are out of balance then technology is not my problem nor is lack of technology the problem. The problem lies in the decisions I’ve made and so far they’ve not found the technology that can make those for you (Sat Nav’s excluded).
Granted that technology can help you implement a solution but that doesn’t make IT the solution. Buying more stuff or better stuff will not of itself help you find a more balanced life. That comes from knowing our priorities and living accordingly.
The title of this advert, is ‘Two lives, one phone’. You can have two lives – a work life and a home life. Having this phone joins them up. Not sure how this is any different from any other phone but never mind that now. This phone makes the work/life balance possible, equilibrium and a contented life are all at your disposal if you have this phone.
If my work and personal life are out of balance then technology is not my problem nor is lack of technology the problem. The problem lies in the decisions I’ve made and so far they’ve not found the technology that can make those for you (Sat Nav’s excluded).
Granted that technology can help you implement a solution but that doesn’t make IT the solution. Buying more stuff or better stuff will not of itself help you find a more balanced life. That comes from knowing our priorities and living accordingly.
I wonder how many people know the music from this advert was ripped out of Sunday School? I didn’t shout at the TV this time, but similar to my friend Andy’s experience while watching an ALDI ad, I boiled on the inside.
This ad is dangerous on all sorts of levels. Firstly, it says the power is yours, destiny is in your hands. Life is what you make it. Sure, but sort of world will I make if I just play on computer games?
That’s the second problem, that you can experience the ‘world’ through a screen. You don’t actually have to go outside and talk to anyone, do anything, go anywhere, make anything. No the world is in your hands while your bum is on the sofa. The world was not made so we could experience it through a screen, whatever Sky or HD makers tell you. Nothing is as high definition as actually seeing it.
Third problem is that life is about being entertained. Life is not about working or doing ‘hard’ things. Life is not about denying yourself, quite the opposite – life is about filling yourself to the max.
Whatever the blessings of computer consoles (and I have a borrowed PS2 and Wii in my lounge), we can’t fall into the trap of thinking the way these adverts encourage us to think.
I wonder how many people know the music from this advert was ripped out of Sunday School? I didn’t shout at the TV this time, but similar to my friend Andy’s experience while watching an ALDI ad, I boiled on the inside.
This ad is dangerous on all sorts of levels. Firstly, it says the power is yours, destiny is in your hands. Life is what you make it. Sure, but sort of world will I make if I just play on computer games?
That’s the second problem, that you can experience the ‘world’ through a screen. You don’t actually have to go outside and talk to anyone, do anything, go anywhere, make anything. No the world is in your hands while your bum is on the sofa. The world was not made so we could experience it through a screen, whatever Sky or HD makers tell you. Nothing is as high definition as actually seeing it.
Third problem is that life is about being entertained. Life is not about working or doing ‘hard’ things. Life is not about denying yourself, quite the opposite – life is about filling yourself to the max.
Whatever the blessings of computer consoles (and I have a borrowed PS2 and Wii in my lounge), we can’t fall into the trap of thinking the way these adverts encourage us to think.
Sometimes adverts just go too far in their claims.
Everything? Really? This mobile phone is going to change everything? Peace in Iraq? An end to world poverty? Will it stop me losing at chess? Will it help me be funnier? So what exactly is it going to change apart from the balance in my account? Precisely, nothing.
Our church has been having a debate with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about talking about healing (Round 1, Round 2). Here’s the latest:
We sent the following letter to them, explaining again our position
“Thank you for your letter asking us again to comply with the proforma. Our response, however is the same as before for the following reasons:
The ASA may have felt we discouraged people from seeking medical advice but the burden of proof is with you to demonstrate that the implication you infer is both correct and unambiguous. As we have said in every response we have made, we neither implied it (directly or indirectly), nor believe the implication is present in the text or present nor in our following actions or policies. We disagree with this view, we do not and have not implied that and as we have made clear members of our congregation do receive medical treatment, however we also believe that God heals people through prayer. It would seem a very strange decision to present a newsletter introduced by a retired medical doctor if our intention was to discourage people from visiting the surgery where he was formerly a partner for 20 years.
You understood correctly the implications of the invitation: that ‘the conditions were treated as a direct result of prayer’ which in this case is precisely what we meant to say, and in all cases mentioned this is what the individuals believe happened. This belief that God can heal today through prayer is what many orthodox Christians believe happens.
As regards the present status of Dr Matthias, the issue is one of semantics, we think the statement we made is both accurate and truthful regarding his qualifications, experience and place of practice. Dr Matthias was a partner in the practice that covers the area in which the invitations were delivered and the majority of the 2000 homes that received would have been a patient in his practice. However, we are more than willing to describe Dr Matthias as ‘a retired medical doctor with over 35 years experience, more than 20 locally’ in the future.
As I understand it from the proforma, the ASA is saying that as a church we can no longer refer to the personal healing that has happened in people’s lives, nor publicly state the belief that people could be healed through prayer and faith in God. That as a matter of conscience we cannot do.
We believe there should be truthfulness in the public sphere and in advertising, we do not think we have been untruthful or irresponsible in anything we have said.
Yours sincerely
Phil Whittall”
We then received the following and probably final (from the ASA anyway) reply (extract):
“Dear Mr Whittall,
Thank you for your email of 5 September 2008. I appreciate you feel that your circular did not discourage people from visiting their doctors. However, we consider that because it makes direct references to the physical healing of serious medical conditions, members of the public who read it may believe that it is not necessary for them to seek qualified medical advice if they attend the church.
CAP considers that advertisers in this particular sector should only make reference to ‘spiritual healing’. It has never accepted even implied references to the physical healing of serious medical conditions. We do understand that this is a delicate area, but I am sure you can appreciate that we must approach all ‘advertisers’ in the same way in order for the regulation of the entire industry to be consistent and fair.
I am disappointed that you are not willing to sign and return the proforma. We have no option left but to refer this issue to Shrewsbury Trading Standards, who may wish to take their own action.”
So there you go, I assume from this that the next we hear of it will be from Trading Standards which will be interesting. But there are a few other interesting points, one as someone pointed out to me, “according to their world view they don’t mind us abusing people’s spiritual health but we aren’t allowed to speak about physical health.”
One also assumes that if someone were to come to church ill and leave ill then they would still consult their doctor. But only if someone came ill and left healthy then they may not go to a doctor, although we would encourage them to go to verify the change. Anyway the saga continues and I can agree with the believers prayer when they said, ‘Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus’ (Acts 4:29-30)
You may recall that my church is having something of a disagreement with the ASA over a newsletter we distributed in our neighbourhood that focused on healing (you can read the original posts with links here and here).
Well things have gone a little bit further since then. The ASA sent us a proforma which goes a bit further than the action they requested here. The proforma of compliance is as follows:
“ASSURANCE OF COMPLIANCE WITH ASA ADJUDICATION
This is an assurance that the advertising that was the subject of ASA investigation reference No. A08-59227 will no longer appear in its original form. The claims investigated and found to breach the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing, and similar claims that are likely to breach the Code, will not appear in our future marketing communications. We will ensure future circulars do not contain references to the treatment or cure of medical conditions.”
The part we have a particular issue with is in the last two sentences. No future claims about healing, no reference to the cure of medical conditions. Unsurprisingly, this was something we couldn’t agree with.
The ASA only allow appeals if there is a flawed procedure or new evidence comes to light, yet they have never asked us to verify the claims of healing which we made and which we are happy to do. The issue has never been whether the healings are true but whether we can tell anyone and invite people to see for themselves. They don’t allow appeals on the grounds that we disagree with their decision and that they might be wrong. So we didn’t appeal. Didn’t seem to be a point.
That leaves only two options compliance or non-compliance. We took the second option. As a result I received an email from their compliance team, asking us again to comply. We refused. We said:
“Thank you for your email, however we are not able to comply with your request at this time for the following reasons. We disagree with the judgement of the ASA with regard to our printed invitation, but the ASA do not allow appeals against their decision on this basis. With its present wording we’re unable to sign the proforma as we feel it restricts both our freedom of speech and freedom of religion, specifically around the possibility of God healing, and have advice that supports this view. We’d be happy to talk with the ASA to jointly work on a proforma that does neither of those things but that upholds high standards in advertising, which we fully support.”
The following day I receive another letter an extract of which says,
“
The ASA council did not accept your argument that the circular was merely an invitation to seek God in prayer for medical problems because the wording of the ad implied that the conditions were treated as a direct result of prayer.
This specific point is covered by Code clauses 2.2 and 50.3 which states:
2.2.1 All marketing communications should be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.
50.3 Marketers should not discourage essential treatment. They should not offer specific advice on, diagnosis of or treatment for serious or prolonged conditions unless it is conducted under the supervision of a doctor or other suitably qualified health professional (e.g. one subject to regulation by a statutory or recognised medical or health professional body). Accurate and responsible general information about such conditions may, however, be offered.”
They asked again for us to comply. I think that is unlikely. The point of contention has been made clearer by the sentence “because the wording of the ad implied that the conditions were treated as a direct result of prayer.” Well, at least they understood what we were saying, that is what we were implying.
So what do you think?
Other bloggers on this issue:
This advert cued more yelling at the TV from yours truly. It points revealingly to the shallowness of our culture (aside from presenting a pretty low view of women). We have nothing to talk about other than the broken lives of celebrities and the people we watch on the box.
Because we have become by and large a people that don’t DO anything but rather a people that watch other people DO things, we have become shallow and in a complete reversal of the intended advert, uninteresting.
Final rant, these magazine are called Gossip mags for a reason, and Christians frankly shouldn’t buy them because gossip is, well how should I put it, BAD.
It’s interesting to see how news of this is spreading. We’ve even made it over to Yahoo Questions
Apparently, the issue is resolved and if we formed a judgement on these responses, we would be ‘dangerous’, ‘desperate’, and possibly jailed for making such outrageous claims.
Meanwhile, I’ve received these messages of support:
“I just want to encourage you in your stand about prayer and healing having read the article on the BBC new report. I too am a doctor, though also retired, and gladly endorse healing through Christian prayer. I pray that you will continue to make your stand and see more & more of the Lord’s mightty work in your midst. With blessings in the name of The Great Physician.”
and
“I was just reading the ASA adjudication on your leaflet and am appalled that they would make the assessments as they did and prevent you from talking about the power of God, through prayer to heal. Are you taking this any further? We are praying for you and standing with you in this matter.”
Other listings:
Plenty of other places too, but they mostly just reference the BBC article. While I was at Newday, I missed calls from Premier Radio and the Baptist Times. So they caught news of it too.
I wonder how long this story will run for?
I believe Jesus when he said 'life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions'. I believe he offers something better. This blog is mostly about that search.
I'm also a church pastor, a bookshop owner, a husband, a father, a keen runner, reader, and motorcyclist. These and a few other things make guest appearances from time to time.