Christ and Pop Culture

I came across a post today at Christ and Pop Culture that discusses the idea of merchandising Christianity. Here's an excerpt.

In general, most brands and labels promote either purely commercial enterprises (Nike), or some form of entertainment (the L.A. Dodgers, U2). In either case, the thing being promoted is only superficially important, if at all. As much as a person might love a band or a sports team, by promoting them on a tee-shirt they are saying more about their choice in entertainment, who/what they spend money on, and what cultural sub-groups they identify with than what their worldview is or what beliefs they hold. Of course, there are exceptions, but I believe that for most people a label or brand represents little more than an identifier of taste in entertainment and perhaps a fashion statement.

In addition, slogans, labels, and brands lack any significant power to persuade people of the truthfulness, quality, or goodness of the thing being represented; all they really tell us is that the thing is popular. In a political race, bumper stickers can be used to “demonstrate” the popularity of a candidate. The argument goes, “If so many people are willing to put a sticker on their bumper to support this candidate, he must be worth electing.” Labels, brands, and slogans are more often than not only an identifier of the choices we’ve made as consumers and our tastes. Additionally, the only real persuasive power they have is to convince us that the thing/idea is popular. With these concepts in mind, lets look at the effect of prompting a Christian worldview.

First, we should note that the primary purpose of brands and labels is to promote, while the goal of the Great Commission is to share the good news. We are called to share a deep, honest, and often times offensive truth in the Gospel. This kind of content is in stark contrast to the methods of conveying ideas found in advertisements, which are shallow, deceptive, and ear-tickling. Remember, we are not trying to dupe customers into buying our product over other products. Since the main purpose behind branding and labels is to promote, and we are not called to promote Christianity, on this point, at least, we should question the rightness of Christian branding.

Click here to read the whole article from Christ and Pop Culture called- Wearing Our Faith: the Purpose and Effectiveness of Bumper Stickers and Christian Clothes