Christianity Today has an interesting article called Jesus is not a Brand. It is a very thought-provoking article. One of the author's key concerns is how consumerism has harmed the church. With consumerism, we try to establish our identity by the nature of the goods we consume. This bleeds over into the church. The concern is valid. But I confess that I take exception to some aspects of the author's argument.
I chafe at the tendency to equate marketing with little more than a tool of consumerism. This is a common inaccuracy that I think the author perpetuates. Here is how he defines marketing.
Fair enough, but here are a few thoughts.
First, regardless of how intentional you are about it, you are engaged in marketing if you are in the marketplace. You present yourself with a product, and a prospective buyer looks for clues about your product's nature and character. It is impossible to have an economic transaction without marketing. If you oppose marketing, then you are opposed to all economic transactions.
There is some parallel here for the church. The Pauline letters contain instructions on how to behave, some of which have nothing to do with the ethical nature of the behaviors but because to do otherwise might obstruct communication of the gospel. Paul is concerned about the "marketing" of the gospel in the Greco-Roman marketplace of ideas and alternative cultures.
Second, most advertising does not persuade people to buy something they would not otherwise buy (though clearly, some advertising does). Most advertising is about persuading customers to buy from a particular advertiser versus another supplier (i.e., shifting market share among competitors). For example, having the "Anthony Plumbing & Heating" refrigerator magnet on my refrigerator does not make me more inclined to buy plumbing services. However, it does make it more likely they will get my business when a pipe breaks. In the marketplace of ideas and communities, we must be present to the ones we wish to draw into community.
Third, this article aims particularly at what economists call positional goods. Economists differentiate between material goods and positional goods. Positional goods are goods whose value derives (mostly, if not entirely) from their desirability relative to substitute goods. If I build a house on two acres of land in rural Kansas and build the same one on two acres of land in the Hollywood Hills overlooking L.A., the second house will cost much more. The exclusivity of the location, and the status it brings, is the determining factor. Owning a beautiful painting by a famous artist versus owning a beautiful painting by an unknown artist will cost more. Yet in both cases, similar amounts of raw materials were used, and the basic need for a home or beauty was met.
Consumerism, in my book, is primarily about finding identity through the consumption of positional goods that we perceive place us in a superior light to those who have not purchased similar goods. Is that present in our society? Unquestionably! Are countless billions of dollars spent on promoting this? You bet!
But it does not follow that marketing is inherently evil or a mere extension of consumerism. Marketing is about market players competing to function more responsively and effectively. This will be as true for food markets, as it is for luxury car markets, and pornography markets. Marketing is a powerful force for facilitating great good … and great evil.
When we're talking about competing in the marketplace of ideas and community, there is no escape from marketing. Jesus and New Testament writers were very intent on recasting their "customers" perceptions of their own needs, on presenting themselves in specific ways, on "closing the deal" of bringing people into the new creation community, and on persuading others to do what is in their own best self-interest; namely to serve others in the community, in service to God.
We no longer need to fill our identity through consumption when our identity is filled in Christ and his community of disciples.
(If my reference to self-interest doesn't sit quite right with you, please see my short essay on self-interest.)
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