Posted by:
Dallin A. Chokes
(
)
Date: January 11, 2013 12:22AM
I was watching a couple of documentaries about advertising and propaganda recently, and a few things jumped out at me. They discussed how many big-name companies had stopped doing comparative advertising (saying "our product is better than so and so") and moved over into a type where they wanted to induce in their customers "loyalty beyond reason". They wanted to instill in the consumer a devotion that bordered on fanaticism.
The ad campaigns began to focus on showing the products as lifestyles--some of them took on an almost spiritual quality to them (Nike ads as inspiring, etc.). They looked at how some companies had turned to psychology to find ways to get at the "lizard brain"--to turn our inherent impulses against us to make us spend more and more for reasons even we couldn't understand. They used focus groups and research to get to the heart of what their customers wanted, and tried to sell it via branding, not necessarily product. They showed a minor Delta airline called "song" (which I didn't remember, and which is now defunct) which targeted women specifically.
As I watched these, and, as with most things I take in these days, I drew parallels to my Mormon experience. I thought about how I've read that TSCC uses image consultants and market research--basically running a business. And their ad campaigns (the Homefront series--"Isn't it about time?" and the recent "I'm a Mormon" campaign). And their Heartsell. And I began to wonder--how much of Mormonism is just a product? How has it gotten to the point where people exhibit "loyalty beyond reason"? And, if it IS a product, what do the consumers get from it? What are they selling? A lifestyle? A promise for the afterlife? (Even if they make this life a hell?) The latest campaign seems to make it pretty amorphous--there is no product other than being able to call yourself a Mormon. You can be a single dad. A skateboarder. A working mom. An artist. But you can also be a MORMON! They are selling a subscription service for warm fuzzies about yourself--the ability to think of yourself (regardless of your station in life) as chosen, special, righteous, the elite of God.
Does anyone take themselves as seriously as the Mormons do? I know no one takes the Mormons as seriously as the Mormons do.
What do you think? Product?