Posted by:
justarelative
(
)
Date: March 21, 2015 06:05PM
The television and radio commercials are VERY effective. But their purpose is NOT so much to draw people in as it is to create a generally positive, benign impression. Lots of people, especially outside the morridor, have a knowledge of Mormonism that is limited to the quirky behavior of a handful of Mormons they have known, like this
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1527289and this
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1538648plus the commercials. That's not enough to understand the dangers involved in listening to missionaries, or accepting the love-bombing of an every-member-a-missionary.
So when someone in the know, like an ex-mo or an informed never-mo, shifts into high gear in response to an incursion -- like when a niece is taking the discussions, or whatever, they (we) seem more like the wild-eyed crazies than do the missionaries.
The commercials help to make it easier for the investigator to dismiss the well informed but emotionally charged naysayer. Especially when the investigator also asks an ill-informed friend or relative who just shrugs and says, "they seem like nice people, and good neighbors" based in part on the commercials.
BTW, this is why Richard's web site, with its dispassionate, fact-based wealth of information is so effective.
JAR