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Marketing Religion as a Weather Report
June 1, 2007 |
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a church billboard that seemed to imply that religion was much like a prescription drug. Although I take no credit, that billboard has come down. Let’s assume “the powers that be” have decided that the drug use comparison is not an appropriate way to represent their religious tenets.
Well, said they, what about a meteorological metaphor? So let’s talk about the weather!
The forecast for this week, and I would have to assume for every week until they change the billboard again, is for cloudy weather Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Thankfully it will be sunny on Sunday. I suppose that’s the point; sunny on Sunday.
Does that mean that everyday but Sunday is cloudy? We’re not really sure. The billboard forecast has neglected to tell us what the weather will be for Monday or Tuesday. If Sunday is sunny because going to xyz church is the only chance to see the sun shine, then I guess that Monday and Tuesday are also cloudy. On the other hand, maybe there is some residual sunshine. If that’s the case then Monday might be partly cloudy and Tuesday might be partly sunny. This explanation is null and void for people who live in Oregon.
But I’m interpreting this much too literally. What the PR department at xyz church could really be saying is; going to church (or watching professional football if the billboard is still there in the fall) is the only thing that will make the sun shine; figuratively. All the rest is clouds and darkness. “I can’t wait for Sunday because that’s the only day I can overcome the oppression of this dark and dour world!”
Here is the point in the discussion where I make a plea for ETS to reinstate the comprehensive analogy portion of the SAT test. I went to the xyz website. This seems like a pretty savvy bunch. They’ve got a well designed website. They even have podcasts! What they don’t have is the ability to create a proper and relevant analogy that will make sense on a billboard.
Luckily for them, their target audience didn’t have to understand analogies either. My advise is to think a little harder about the “message” and stop watching all those pharmaceutical ads on the Weather Channel.
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