Title: Light of the World Truth in
Advertising
I was seriously contemplating taking
the week off from blogging. I was having a hard time figuring out
what to write about. I haven't watched any really interesting movies
lately, and other than Terra Nova,
my television viewing pretty much revolves around sports. I had other
things I'd rather do, but then I saw a pair of commercials last night
that I thought would be a great starting point.
30
seconds doesn't seem like a lot of time to send a message, does it?
Every day, we receive messages in 30 second packets. Almost all of
them are attempting to sell us something. Some try to get us to
purchase a new car, others woo us with shiny new electronic gadgets,
starting in January a lot of them will try to tell us who to vote
for. 30 seconds is actually a lot more time than we think it is. In
such a short amount of time we can be persuaded to do a lot of
things.
With
all that sales pitch going on, where can we find any truth? I'm not
talking about truth in terms of the product doing what it claims to
do, because we all know that doesn't always happen (especially with
Microsoft products) in our (I'm sorry computer, please don't blue
screen on me in the middle of typing this!) technologically dependent
world. I'm talking about truth in relation to our Christian
worldview. I think the tagline of the commercials is a very genius
way of marketing a product not just as a way of making life more
entertaining or easy, but also as a way of getting us to use those
devices together as a family.
“It's
a great time to be a family”
The
message is almost counter-cultural in our modern age! As an American
society, we have become increasingly more individualistic and self
oriented. “Family” is a fairy tale for some. For others, a fight
for recognition. For some, family is still the central unit of
society. Out West, we have a large population of Mormons, who value family above all, and we snicker and
make jokes about how “backward” they are. I wonder how many of us
secretly wish our families were as close as Mormon families are.
Religious beliefs aside, the earthly functionality of the Mormon
family isn't “backward” at all. In fact, it is the ideal and
normative vision God has for us. Mormons believe that family is the
essential unit of society and that without stable, loving families,
society will crumble.
“I
thought you were Catholic!!!” I'm sure some of you just screamed at
me. I'm not promoting their religion. I'm doing what good Catholics
should do- taking a good example (no matter where it comes from) to
illustrate truth. So, what is the Catholic perspective on family?
Interestingly enough, it is quite similar to the Mormon perspective.
I'm pretty sure ours developed first- the Church is 2,000 years old
after all- but the similarities are actually pretty striking.
Here's
a quote from the Mormon website on family:
“God
organizes us into families so that we can grow up in happiness and
safety, and so that we can learn to love others selflessly—the key
to true joy. Within the family is the best place to learn to love
others the way Heavenly Father loves each one of us.”
TheCatechism of the Catholic Church says:
“The
family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral
values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life
is an initiation into life in society.” (CCC 2207)
The
Catechism further states, “It [family] is a community of faith,
hope, and charity; it assumes singular importance in the Church as is
evident in the New Testament.” (footnote references: Eph. 5:21-6:4;
Col. 3:18-21; 1 Pet. 3:1-7)
As
Catholics, we call the family domus
ecclesia
which means home
church.
The idea is that our family unit is the first “church” we are
members of. As a small family unit, we gather to eat, pray, play, and
converse. At the Eucharistic gathering of all the faithful, we gather
to eat, pray, and converse (play is sometimes there too- just look at
the kids in the back). The intent is that parents will teach their
children the way of Christ and His love so that the children will be
able to contribute within society. Sadly, we often fail at this
mission. It troubles me to see men drop their children and wives off
at the door and come back to pick them up after Mass. We have more
women volunteering as instructors for religious education classes
than men. And we wonder why we have seen a drop in vocations to the
priesthood?! Our young boys don't have role models where they need
them most- in the domus
ecclesia!!
In
a wider view, society doesn't value family. For 30 years (maybe
more), parents have been content to place their children in front of
a television instead of playing in the back yard. Parents excuse
themselves from their role as instructors and let Power Rangers,
Yu-gi-oh, and Batman teach the children. And they wonder why kids get
in trouble at school! We live in a society that has become so
technologically advanced that video games and a “nanny cam” seem
to be adequate substitutes for parents and baby sitters.
Microsoft
has done a wonderful job promoting the use of their products for the
betterment of families. In the first commercial, a dad is taking his
turn at the video game while the kids and grandparents watch from the
couch. First of all, where was video game playing dad when I was
growing up?! Second, it is nice to see that everyone is paying
attention to what he is doing. Sure, he looks like a dork playing the
dance game (my guess is he was raised Wesleyan! joking);
but don't we all look stupid playing those games? The daughter is
recording the scene so she can make fun of him on facebook. The son
uploads it, and everyone enjoys a laugh- even dad. The overt message
may be, “buy a Windows 7 phone, Windows 7 laptops, Xbox 360 Kinect
(make Bill Gates richer!).” But, the underlying message is, “the
family that plays together stays together” (I know it's supposed to
be prays!).
The
second commercial features a boy asking for every boy's second dream
gift- a dog! The first is a Red Ryder BB gun, but we all know what
happens if parents give us one of those! In the 90's boys had to ask
nicely, do chores for a month or two solid, and prove they could
handle the responsibility of a dog. Apparently in 2011 boys can put
together a slick PowerPoint presentation and win over their parents'
approval. I give the kid kudos on the integration of video within the
PowerPoint project- it really made it more interesting than pie
charts! I thought the most humorous part was also the most poignant-
the end. When dad realizes that slick PowerPoint presentations are
the key to getting what we want (hmm...), he puts together a
presentation about why he should abandon his family and play golf on
Sundays. I wonder if that's what all the men who aren't at Mass on
Sunday did. The wife wisely refuses to approve that request.
“It's
a great time to be a family”
Indeed
it is! We have mothers who live past childbirth; children who don't
die of disease before age two; running water; indoor cooking; and
video games! Why then do we laugh at the “backwards” Mormons
because they have “Family Home Evening”? I bet it's because we
wish we had that too! What's stopping us? Are we scared that spending
time with our wife and kids will make us less manly and cool?! Maybe
if more of us took a cue from the Mormons, society would be a
friendlier, more loving, and honest place. It couldn't hurt to try!
No comments:
Post a Comment