You Don’t Deserve…And There Are Always Limits

*Note to would-be commenters: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is not hostile or argumentative. Such comments will not be approved. Do not post links or pictures. This blog is a place for me to express my opinions and interact with interested readers—mostly evangelical Christians. Do not misuse this blog as it is not a discussion board. If you comment, stick to the subject, be respectful and kind, and do not misuse it as your own blog-opportunity to wax eloquent about your own alternative views.*

As readers of this blog know, if they have been reading it very long, I am dismayed by the ploys used by advertisers especially on television. Far too often TV commercials are manipulative and dishonest (or disingenuous about facts). I worry that Christians should not be in this industry as it seems to require a level of dishonesty. I know there are exceptions, but even the attempt to lure people to buy things they do not need seems to me contrary to the spirit of true Christianity.

But today’s blog post is about two especially prominent cliches used both by advertisers especially in TV commercials and sometimes by entertainers in television programs. These have both entered into the public consciousness so that many people, including some Christians, are brainwashed to think they are true (even if only subconsciously). My concern is to inform Christians that these common American sayings are, from a Christian perspective, untrue.

As an aside, let me say that I think it is pastors’ duty to point Christians away from elements of culture, including common cliches that have negative consequences, that are inimical to authentic Christianity. I believe materialistic consumerism is included in that category as is idolatry of human beings, however subtle.

Let me begin with one of the most common advertising slogans. If one pays attention he or she will hear it almost every day on television and sometimes see it (as I have) on billboards and in print advertising. It is: “You deserve….” What do they say you deserve? Good credit. Beautiful hair. Designer clothes. Expensive cars. And, recently, on an episode of the British dramedy “Father Brown,” you deserve God’s forgiveness and inclusion in his family—no matter what you have done and without expressed conditions. You deserve it. (No Catholic priest I know would ever say that you “deserve” salvation. Saying you deserve salvation is a complete denial of the basic Christian doctrine of salvation by grace alone. If you deserve something, it cannot be by grace alone.)

If you pay attention, you cannot miss it. “You deserve” is now as common as the common phrase “one of a kind” which should be (and seems to mean) “the only one of its kind.” (We Americans have a habit of shortening phrases sometimes to where they mean the opposite of what they are meant to mean! If something is “one of a kind” it is not special. I assume the saying is a shortened version of “the only one of its kind” which is usually what “one of a kind” means, but taken literally “one of a kind” means the opposite.)

Back to “you deserve.” So far as I can remember, the phrase in advertising began with “You deserve a break today….” I think it was used by a certain popular fast food chain. The first time I heard it on TV I thought “Why do I deserve a break today?” And, if I do, do I deserve it at a fast food restaurant?

Since then, however, numerous TV commercials here in America use that phrase—“You deserve”—for all kinds of products. The other day I heard on a TV commercial that I deserve good credit. Really? Why do I deserve good credit unless I have always paid my bills on time? The commercial was promoting a company and its service…that can allegedly change your credit rating even if you haven’t been diligent about paying bills on time. Who “deserves” good credit other than someone who has paid his or her bills on time?

But that was just one seemingly (to me) egregious example of the misuse of the phrase “you deserve” which you can hear in numerous TV commercials for all kinds of things.

Here I want to say that you and I do NOT “deserve” most of these products and services. We WANT them—because advertisers tell us we need them to be happy and personally fulfilled—but we do not (usually) “deserve” them.

But, of course, as a theologian, I am especially disturbed by false messages put forth by anyone, especially perhaps on a television show that purports to be based on a minister of the gospel created by the great Catholic thinker G. K. Chesterton. I could picture Chesterton turning over in his grave when “Father Brown” told a sad and guilty-feeling potential parishioner that he “deserves” God’s forgiveness and salvation. I wonder if the makers of “Father Brown” consult theologians when they write these episodes? Would a Catholic priest ever say that? I doubt it.

My point is that the IDEA that we all deserve the best of everything has entered into our American (and possibly British and other) consciousnesses. A school student deserves a medal or a trophy even if he or she performs poorly. We seem to be obsessed with feeling not only good about ourselves but that we deserve everything we want. At least from a Christian perspective, that cannot be the case. Christians, at least, ought to resist such cultural influences and ideas and many of them need help-even from pulpits, to resist them.

Now to my second advertising cliche: “No limits!” Apparently the American advertising industry has latched onto this false slogan and used it in variations that say the same thing—namely, that IF you join a certain club or attend a certain college or university or even subscribe to a certain recurring product there will be for you—“no limits.” What? Even to common sense there are always limits. We are finite, mortal beings. Nothing can give us “no limits.” No college or university or any other organization can provide unlimitedness. And the very idea that a human being can receive the condition of “no limits” is absurd on the face of it.

My theory is that these false promises and claims so common in American advertising sneak into our consciousness and corrupt our thoughts—about products and ourselves. The “no limits” claim suggests a kind of God-like status. Only God has no limits and even he—from a Christian perspective—is limited by his own nature and character. He cannot lie; he cannot do evil, etc.

My reason for writing this is to suggest to American (and other) Christian pastors, especially, that it would be good ministerial practice to speak out to congregants (and possibly others) against the false claims made by advertisers. We need to help our people, Christians (and possibly others), to think critically about the messages with which they are bombarded almost daily (sometimes literally daily!) by our materialistic, consumerist, advertising-driven culture.