God-vertising?
Here's a passage from an article about the increased interest of film studios in "catering" to the Christian demographic. Probably not all that shocking, but I'm feeling a little uncertain about the willingness of some pastors to "market" films from the pulpit:When the church is united behind a film, “it has a pretty profound effect,” Cannon says. “That’s why people are paying a lot more attention to the mega-pastors. When you’ve got thousands of people who listen to you every week, when you can rent out entire theaters, you’ve got a powerful voice.”
Indeed, studios are finding that ministers who preach to flocks of 5,000 or more a week can be as powerful a marketing tool as a slick advertising campaign...
...Joe Bubar, a minister at the Scottsdale (Ariz.) Bible Church, welcomes being Hollywood’s hot new demographic. His church rented five theaters during the opening week of “Narnia” and urged its 5,500 members to turn out in force.
He believes churches welcome faith-based films as much as Hollywood welcomes faith-based money.
“We’re looking for things that help us deliver our message,” he says. “And, particularly with younger people, movies do that. We welcome movies with a positive message.”
posted by Lian at 9:43 am
4 Comments:
I don't know about the Chris Fawkes thing - I watched the trailer and I just thought he was doing a Tom Hanks impression.
9:28 am
I think that there is advertising in vigourously telling people not to go.
It's a little scary to me that these movie companies see such value in marketing to Christian groups. I think it's unfortunate that there truly is a Christian subculture, complete with Christian apparel, zipper pulls, sugar free candy, and even Christian romance novels. Why not go all the way and start marketing Christian condoms, lubrication, and lingerie? Maybe if we had Christian food too then we'd never have to leave our comfort zone!
I think it breaks the heart of Christ the more that we refuse to engage the world and the people around us. We wander around wrapped in bubble wrap and hope to not get dirty.
9:32 am
well said erk
it's scary how the media market has seen the power of one man's voice over a mega church of thousands of people and is now trying to get in and capitalize on that power. it seems as though it will only get worse as those kind of churches become more and more like corporations.
2:08 am
Look at the other side. In Australia the Salvation Army were one of the biggest makers of films early last century.
They decided to virtually abandon the film making because many other studios were making films that did not reflect Christian values.
What an opportunity lost.
Christians will be spending money on seeing movies and surely it is better to use what influence we can to get behind films that promote messages congruent with our philosophy. How irresponsible would it be not to?
Paul is not so worried about the motives of those who preach Christ and we should not be too miffed about those who are probably spending money effectively supporting us also.
And if Hollywood producers make a huge profit, there is nothing wrong with that.
If it was we should not go and see movies at all.
I would be worried about a film like Gibson’s The Passion that appear to reflect a Christian story but in reality present a caricature of Christ and the events compared to what is actually written in the Word.
10:37 pm
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