Advertising campaigns are fine, says The Record’s Mark Reidy, but every Christian has the opportunity to be a walking billboard.
By Mark Reidy
As I was talking to the brother of a young man who had recently hung himself, I asked him if he had been surprised by his brother’s tragic and final decision. “Not really”, he said with a heavy sigh, “He had lived with a rope around his neck for years”.
These haunting words echoed through my mind a few weeks later as I attended the funeral of another young man who had lain dead on the floor of his small unit for almost a week before being discovered. Years of heavy drug abuse had finally taken their toll. How many “living dead” are there, I wondered, who are staggering through each day with a “rope around their neck”?
It is possibly the same question that is motivating the largest Christian advertising campaign to ever be conducted in Australia – “Jesus. All about Life”. The campaign, which is supported by over 15 Christian denominations, including Catholic, will begin in a few weeks and is founded on Jesus’ words: “I have come that they may have life, and life to the full” (John 10:10). It is a concept that was obviously far removed from the perceptions of the two men who recently died.
The motivation of the campaign is to arouse curiosity in the message of Jesus and then encourage further discovery by directing people to a local church. Dr Paul Harrison, a Melbourne lecturer in consumer behaviour and advertising, however, suggests that the endeavour reflects a naivety about advertising and its ability to persuade people to behave in certain ways. He believes that it is a romantic notion to think that advertising can influence attitudes and behaviour and states that it really only works as a “nudging” tool for those who are predisposed to looking at your product. He gives as an example the person with a flat tyre who suddenly notices an advertisement for tyres.
Mr Harrison’s observations led me to realise that, despite his own naivety – in which he equates Jesus to any number of life-enhancing products – he does inadvertently promote the need for Christians to bring Jesus into the secular market place. If, as he suggests, a person is more likely to look for a new tyre when theirs is flat, then how much more willing will they be to look for a true purpose in their life when they are constantly living with a rope around their neck?
But it is our duty as Christians not to merely rely on a media campaign to bring the person of Christ to the world. We must ourselves become living, breathing billboards that will draw others to seek Jesus in a deeper way.
However, if we want our efforts to have a positive impact on others, it is essential that we are acutely aware of the messages that we give. Do we crush people with our judgements and laws and as a result prevent them from ever pursuing a relationship with God, or do we first introduce them to His all-consuming love and mercy and then nurture and guide them as they reassess their own behaviours in the context of this love?
We need to reflect on the words of US advertising professor, Jeff Richards, “While it may be true that the best advertising in the world is word of mouth, never lose sight of the fact it also can be the worst advertising”.
We may be wiser to live out the example of St Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary, speak”.