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<\/a><\/p>\n*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\u2014mostly 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.*<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But today\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
As an aside, let me say that I think it is pastors\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
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: \u201cYou deserve\u2026.\u201d What do they say you deserve? Good credit. Beautiful hair. Designer clothes. Expensive cars. And, recently, on an episode of the British dramedy \u201cFather Brown,\u201d you deserve God\u2019s forgiveness and inclusion in his family\u2014no matter what you have done and without expressed conditions. You deserve it. (No Catholic priest I know would ever say that you \u201cdeserve\u201d 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.)<\/p>\n
If you pay attention, you cannot miss it. \u201cYou deserve\u201d is now as common as the common phrase \u201cone of a kind\u201d which should be (and seems to mean) \u201cthe only one of its kind.\u201d (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 \u201cone of a kind\u201d it is not special. I assume the saying is a shortened version of \u201cthe only one of its kind\u201d which is usually what \u201cone of a kind\u201d means, but taken literally \u201cone of a kind\u201d means the opposite.)<\/p>\n
Back to \u201cyou deserve.\u201d So far as I can remember, the phrase in advertising began with \u201cYou deserve a break today\u2026.\u201d I think it was used by a certain popular fast food chain. The first time I heard it on TV I thought \u201cWhy do I deserve a break today?\u201d And, if I do, do I deserve it at a fast food restaurant?<\/p>\n
Since then, however, numerous TV commercials here in America use that phrase\u2014\u201cYou deserve\u201d\u2014for 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\u2026that can allegedly change your credit rating even if you haven\u2019t been diligent about paying bills on time. Who \u201cdeserves\u201d good credit other than someone who has paid his or her bills on time?<\/p>\n
But that was just one seemingly (to me) egregious example of the misuse of the phrase \u201cyou deserve\u201d which you can hear in numerous TV commercials for all kinds of things.<\/p>\n
Here I want to say that you and I do NOT \u201cdeserve\u201d most of these products and services. We WANT them\u2014because advertisers tell us we need them to be happy and personally fulfilled\u2014but we do not (usually) \u201cdeserve\u201d them.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cFather Brown\u201d told a sad and guilty-feeling potential parishioner that he \u201cdeserves\u201d God\u2019s forgiveness and salvation. I wonder if the makers of \u201cFather Brown\u201d consult theologians when they write these episodes? Would a Catholic priest ever say that? I doubt it.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Now to my second advertising cliche: \u201cNo limits!\u201d Apparently the American advertising industry has latched onto this false slogan and used it in variations that say the same thing\u2014namely, 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\u2014\u201cno limits.\u201d What? Even to common sense there are always limits. We are finite, mortal beings. Nothing can give us \u201cno limits.\u201d No college or university or any other organization can provide unlimitedness. And the very idea that a human being can receive the condition of \u201cno limits\u201d is absurd on the face of it.<\/p>\n
My theory is that these false promises and claims so common in American advertising sneak into our consciousness and corrupt our thoughts\u2014about products and ourselves. The \u201cno limits\u201d claim suggests a kind of God-like status. Only God has no limits and even he\u2014from a Christian perspective\u2014is limited by his own nature and character. He cannot lie; he cannot do evil, etc.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0We 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.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You Don\u2019t Deserve\u2026And 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\u2014mostly evangelical Christians. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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