Athletes4Pizza?
Commmercials aired in St. Louis (and maybe other cities) during the Superbowl directing people to the Athletes4Jesus website. This is one of the worst websites I have ever seen. I wonder how much they spent sending people to this site. They should have spent some of that money on web design. Not only does this purple and teal page look cheesy, complete with rotating 3D Jesus fish/cross, the first place it asks you to click is on a Domino's pizza ad.Contrast this with another site (the link is on the Athletes4Jesus page which is one redeeming quality) for the Pujols Foundation. The opening Flash on this site almost had me crying (I said almost).
If I seem to be too harsh, you may be right, but I explain my distaste for these sub par displays of Christianity in more detail in the preview to my book (read it free). Christians should be leading the way in excellence, not representing God as second class or lame. Usually the producers of this type of inferior content cry poverty, which is a valid argument, but since these guys were advertising during the Superbowl they can not make that claim. Maybe they borrowed the money and need to sell Domino's pizza to pay for it.
posted by Michael Daehn at 12:04 PM
2 Comments:
Apparently, When you leave comments here for the Author and he doesn't like them or it shines the light of truth on his motives, he deletes them. Gee, I wonder if this comment too will be deleted?
Deborah,
You posted your comment on the other blog- Marketing that Sucks.
I left you this response:
Deborah,
I would like to address a few points you raise:
Fact checking- This is a blog, not a newspaper column and I am not a professional reporter nor do I have a fact checking team. Blogs are a place for people to express their opinions. Regardless, I am not sure from your response what "facts" I got wrong.
Focusing on the package- The package is part of the product- in this case the message. The incarnation of God as a man in the person of Jesus Christ is packaging. Jesus removed the barriers to communication by getting on a level that people could relate to. How many people were turned off to God because of your poor representation? We have a responsibility as Christians to respectfully represent God in the best way possible to reach the most people.
Zealous- You are clearly zealous for God, but that does not mean you are doing the right thing. Saul was zealous for God when he killed Christians. Good motives do not make everything OK.
What have I done- I am involved in ministry in a variety of ways. One of the problems I face is explaining to non-Christians why Christians do silly things. By making Christians look inferior or cheesy creates a barrier to belief. I also help churches and Christian organizations effectively communicate through sound marketing that does not waste money.
Money- It is not that you can not get people to respond to a $100K commercial, you can. My point is that you could do much more with that money if you invested it better, and we will be judged on how we invested our talents and resources. For example- You build a home for a needy person for $100K and get free publicity by telling the press. Or you could hold a street party with free food and prizes that attracts hundreds of people, get Kurt Warner to speak in person or on video and get free publicity by telling the press. Etc. This will reach more people for the same amount of money. Commercials in general are very wasteful and ineffective. If you are going to use a commercial it is a good idea to direct them to a website, but we disagree as to the quality of where you are pointing respondents.
Ad hominem- It is easier to attack me and make me out to be less spiritual than you. It makes more sense to take what I am saying to heart, or at least make a rationale argument against the facts.
Domino's?- I am still curious why an ad for Domino's coupons is featured so prominently. What eternal significance does this have?
On the same team- The reason I attacked you- and it was an attack, is so that others can learn from your mistakes. If Christians could learn to be wiser in how they communicate they could be reaching many more people for Christ. I do not doubt that your intentions or motivations were anything but pure. I know that you have a heart for ministry and the goal of the campaign was to bring people to Christ. I was not attacking you personally or saying that you were not trying hard. We have the same ultimate goal and I am sure we will continue the discussion either here or in heaven. I also appreciate that you took the time to make a thoughtful response. God Bless.
-Michael
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