This is the first post in a series called Commercialism and Faith, in which I will explore the relationship between the language of our culture (commercialism) and how we view and relate to God.
This series is not a knock against commercialism as much as it is an exploration of the effects of the cultural language on how we think about the world and specifically how we think about God. Commercials are
simply an exchange of information about the availability of products and services. The idea of a commercial is, in my opinion, morally neutral. That said, I think you will be surprised at how much your thinking, and even your emotional well-being, is affected by advertising.
The average American encounters 3000 commercial messages each day. Whether this is a radio commercial, a magazine ad, a logo on the side of a coffee cup or a billboard we pass on the highway, these images and messages are designed to cause to you think of your life as incomplete, and desire the product they are selling to make your life complete again.
A standard formula used in many commercials is twofold: 1. To illicit a thought in the viewer that theirlife is not satisfactory and then 2. To convince the viewer their life could be made satisfactory with the introduction of said product. If you hear theses messages 3000 times per day, your brain becomes programmed to think in this pattern. Rather than being satisfied, a person begins to believe their life is lacking, whether it is actually lacking or not.
The idea is to convince you that you aren’t going to be happy unless you purchase something. And make no mistake, this is a powerful manipulative tool. Some experts have referred to advertising as the “relentless propaganda on behalf of goods in general.” R. Crisp argued in an article in the Journal of Business Ethics that advertising overrides a consumer’s autonomy of decision making in the creation of desires, correlating an unbreakable link between products and the fulfillment of stimulated desires.” In other words, advertising is designed to hijack your brain by dictating what you desire.
As I launch this series, I want to ask that you become aware of how much advertising you encounter in a day. At first, you’ll notice only some of it, but as you practice, you will quickly realize how 3000 encounters is certainly realistic.
What if part of your emotional well-being is affected by the messages of advertising? And while you certainly can’t get away from it, what if you could come to a theological understanding that would mitigate the affect of these messages? This is the point of this series.
Before my next post, try doing two things:
1. Pay attention to as many commercial messages as you can. Have a mental clicker (not really a counter, because you’ll lose count and quit) running at all times, and just say to yourself, that’s a commercial message, there’s a billboard, a logo, a magazine ad, a radio commercial, or a television spot. I think you’ll agree you are constantly being sold something.
2. Pay specific attention to how many times you hear “Are you tired of?” and “You deserve” kinds of messages. Some will be blatant, and some will not come out and say this, but will certainly make you feel it. An image of the shiny new car makes you tired of your old car. This is powerful conditioning. This is the kind of message that is making you feel like something is wrong with your life.
Now, don’t try to actually change the way you think or react. Psychologists have found awareness is more powerful than resistance. What that means is if you try to fight something, your brain resists change and fights against you. Instead, place no judgment on your findings. Simply note whether or not the commercial contains a manipulative message. Does it make you feel incomplete or inadequate? If so, make a mental note and move on.
Slowly, what will begin to happen is you will stop believing the commercials, and you will begin to be happier. No kidding, it works.
In my next post, I’ll talk a little more about what commercials are doing to your brain, and throughout this series, I’ll be talking about how they affect your view of God, and cause you to misunderstand what He is doing in your life. The next post in this series will launch on Monday, and each new piece will launch on M/W/F, though there may be other blog entries in between. Thanks for your interest.
cracking up…you “lost the sweater”.
Ed poses a though provoking point about churches using broken-ness and the church as a fix to satisfy much like commercial advertising. Might we re-launch the Christian message as God developing us to a higher level that resides in our potential, as opposed to healing what’s broken in us?
Sounds kinda Eastern in philosophy, doesn’t it?
i walked away from a successful career in advertising 10 years ago to be an artist/painter…the industry really bothered me, and i was selling ads for a christian radio station. guess that is what most made me want to walk away from it all. really enjoy your books, don, you know what’s ‘going on.’
Must…not…click…link…to store. I…must…resist. Must…fight…the…evil. But, hey! Look- Don, in 7 sexy colors. Gotta get some!
I just read about Greece today and how the country is going bankrupt because people are retiring at 50 with full benefits. They truly believe they are entitled to it. People are now rioting in the streets with the new austerity program. Unfortunately when you give people something, it’s awful hard to take it away.
Thanks for all the comments. I’m really looking forward to continuing the series. As for those who have criticized the “advertising” on the site, you’d have to read the blog again to see I didn’t criticize advertising. Most of you got that. As for the store, I am not sure what the ethical problem is for doing work and getting paid for that work. I give as much as 30% of everything I make away, when it’s all said and done, and then employ people, and give to The Mentoring Project. I don’t like admitting it, but those comments do hurt when I read them, because they are untrue. If one of you would like to publicly compare giving, I am more than willing. Those comments just seem distasteful.
As for advertising, I actually enjoy the creativity we have in our modern commercials. I would not consider myself anti-advertising or anti-consumerism, either. I think there is real genius to a free-market economy, and wish a true free-market for other parts of the world. Commercialism is going to come with that territory.
Another thing to remember, and I will get into this as I continue the series, is that the world will never be perfect until Jesus comes and reigns as king. So until then, we are making things better in percentages.
Thanks for everybody’s interest and support.
Don
[...] an interesting, related read, check out Donald Miller’s posts on Commercialism and the Human Brain. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Jonas [...]
Commercials come in different forms. My daughter’s boyfriend drove up with a 2010 Fusion. The next day I found myself checking the bluebook value on my 2006! My satisfaction was tested.
Friends of our always hit “mute” for TV commercials. This has a twofold effect for me: 1.) silencing at least some of their allure and 2.) making them far more amusing in most cases.
Don, thank you for doing this series. My brain is opening up already, in a good way. Definitely looking forward to the next post…
[...] 3. Commercialism and Faith Pt 1: The Affect of Commercials on the Human Brain – Donald Miller [...]
Don, I love your work and was intrigued by your article. But, I find it somewhat strange that you talk about commercialism and advertising, while surrounding your blog with no less than 7 pieces of material that can be considered advertising. This even includes one ad that asks us to “Enter a contest to win one-thousand dollars!” Isn’t this a little bit ironic, as it is exactly what you are (presumably) writing against?
I guess by reading your blog I am already well on my way to hitting that “magical” 3,000 number you mention above.
There is so much of everything right in our faces that we better learn how to handle the commercialism. I love the variety that we have before us, but I’ve come to the point of thinking about what I purchase rather than feeling like I have to have something right now. I don’t think we can do much to stop all the advertising, so we would do well in training ourselves to think things through. I know I don’t need much, but when I am in the market for something, I pray first and then take time to think things through. And, I mostly look at advertising as an art form to be admired rather than an impetus to buy something.
are you a fan of the avett brothers?
they sum up the pain of wanting in a pretty good song. the song is called, “Ill With Want.” It just came up on my itunes, and it made me think of this post:) you should check it out!
I agree with many of the comments, and I would just say that for me it boils down to contentment. And when I am choosing contentment, I make better choices, and when I am seeking some “feeling” because I don’t feel content, then I fall into a habit of purchasing or wanting to purchase things for the wrong reasons.
Hey Don, I’m really excited about this new series!
I had this idea: Spiritual Fast-food that gets you fat (I don’t mean to be derogatory), unhealthy, addicted, dependent… I was thinking about not just the money-maker preachers, but also how today there are lots of people who fighting to make Christianity (or what seems to them to be Christianity) mainstream. I personally find it dangerous, because I have met people that told me they were Christians because of how they lived (aka going to church and not partying too much), but when I tried to talk about God and the wonderful promises, etc, there would such a great disconnect that I would be left wondering if they were really Christian (not to judge them of course), or even what being Christian meant.
It’s a lot of ideas but I hope you know what I mean.
Slam, dunk, Don! Looking forward to following this topic. I’ve spent the last couple of years having my lights turned on regarding this very subject. I feel strongly that my low-level depression of the past few years years was largely related to the bombardment of commercialism telling me what I needed to be happy – but that I could no longer afford. It’s been so freeing for me to become aware of the messages that are targeting not only my brain, but also my soul. And, hey, I’m finding myself experiencing a new level of contentment!
Thanks for tackling this – you’re brave to take on money! I look forward to practicing awareness. I’m finding there’s a fine line between cynicism and awareness when it comes to this – I’ll hear my ten year old tell my five year old about an ad, “it won’t work like that if we get it. They just take pictures of it when it’s perfect, or find the one person who liked it to make the commercial…” Trying to get her to realize that we’ve got more than enough – no matter it is being sold.
Looking forward to the follow-up posts.
I am liking this series thus far Don. My family and I moved from the U.S. 4 years ago to Europe. Even though there is still a lot of advertising here, we find that when we visit the U.S. (which we love as our homeland) we want more, feel uglier about ourselves, and really struggle with contentment. My kids even become much more greedy. We don’t live differently when going to the U.S., but I am convinced the increased advertising in public simply overwhelms us. You just don’t know how much it surrounds you until you are out of it for a period of time.
You say, “The idea is to convince you that you aren’t going to be happy unless you purchase something;”
I would say:
“Marketing and advertising is meant to question one’s contentment, with an offer to remedy or ameliorate discomfort, unease, insecurity, impotency (of any stripe), pain, or discontentment. It’s a promise, in one sense. But, they lure our trust many different ways: facts and figures, safety claims, humor, issue a challenge, make you feel like the outsider wanting in, and plenty of others. And “everyone” plays the game, whether pitching the promise, or hoping for it, or both, even Donald Miller. gasp~”
That’s a nice ad for your new book.
As soon as I clicked submit I realized what I had written was completely contrary to what I had read just this morning in 1 John. I must ask Don’s forgiveness and I do look forward to this series.
It’s ‘effect’ not ‘affect’… but, an interesting article!
Interesting exercise, I agree with the premise that advertising sows seeds of covetous or desire, by luring us into thinking our lives are incomplete or not good without these products. We cannot underestimate the power of “praise” to convince us that we need these items. Advertisers either employs fear or praise. The Insurance industry runs off fear but many others run off praise and status. Some combine both, the fear of not being Praiseworthy. ” this item will give me street-cred” for example My Daughter had to have an I-phone. Her peer group considered an I-phone cool,trendy hip. So as her peers purchased their I-phone’s she became scared of miss out on being cool. This is only the tip of the iceberg of systemic evil, creating a greedy fearful consuming brand driven culture. When we consider that according to the UN the first world of 14% consumes 86% of the worlds goods & resources. That leaves 86 % of the world population consuming 14% of the worlds good:( year 2000 ,contact me if you want the sources. The first world has become advertising crazy the advertising industry needs to see their role in promoting a covetous world cultures but they are not alone,other industries are also responsible.
Thou shalt not covet is one of the big ten. I am puzzled why this sin gets the blessings from so many Christians, including church leaders.
Reading this made me think of the movie The Invention of Lying and the scene with the coke commercial. The set of the commerical is stark white and the spokesperson “Bob” asks the viewer to “continue buying Coke” even though it’s “basically brown sugar water” and will most likely lead to obesity. Later in the movie, you see a Pepsi advertisement with the slogan “Pepsi: When they don’t have Coke.”
Love this post. I raised my first son (19) to analyze commercial messages, including product placement. He is about as immune to them as you can get at this point. My younger son does not watch TV, only Netflix, and I am also teaching him to critique the commericial messages that he does see. I agree that being aware increases happiness–no doubt.
Yay for TEVO and DVR!!!! Fast-forward those commercials (and only be subjected to the ones in the show…okay, so we can’t escape it all on tv!!)
Thank you for writing about this topic. I think it’s something we need to hear in a big way, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
For whatever reason, probably because we’re cheapskates, my family doesn’t get cable, and so we hardly ever watch TV (unless we’re renting DVDs). We also use Firefox with Ad Block plus, so we almost never see ads when browsing the web. And because of my musical snobbery, I never listen to the radio. The result of all of this is that we hardly ever hear broadcast advertisements, and the only time we’re exposed to ads are when we’re looking at magazines, driving down the road, or listening to Pandora or Shoutcast.
Although getting away from the effect that ads have on our minds wasn’t necessarily the point, having been away from them for so long now, when we do hear one, they seem so empty and the manipulation seems so obvious that we wonder why anyone actually pays attention to them, other than for their entertainment value. In the odd moments when we do turn on the radio or the TV, whenever an ad begins playing, they sound abrasive and obnoxious. It seems strange that people listen to them and don’t quickly see that there’s nothing real behind the curtain.
So…while I agree that advertisements can be fun and interesting from a creative standpoint (when made well), I think a fast from advertisements can be an eye opening experiment. A steady diet of junk food makes junk food taste good to you. After you’ve switched to good food for a while, junk tastes like junk.
A couple of posters touched on this: “1. To illicit a thought in the viewer that theirlife is not satisfactory and then 2. To convince the viewer their life could be made satisfactory with the introduction of said product.”
I guess I wonder if actually all advertising/branding is effective not because it creates the dissatisfaction per se, but because it taps into a genuine deeper need. It makes us aware of our lack of fulfillment (a part of the human condition) and effectively lies to us about what causes it (and therefore is able to sell us what will fill the ‘gap’)
Thanks Don! This is good stuff. I am looking forward to reading more and having my mind reprogrammed. Wait, you’re not really a Borg in disguise are you?
MikeM captured my thoughts: the irony of a post about relentless commercialism surrounded by commercial appeals to buy Don’s stuff (pace Mr. Miller; I am sure we all are fans). Someone cited “Ill with Want” but I would retrace our ad-laden steps farther back into time with the Rolling Stones: “but he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke the same cigarettes as me”. Some of us sell Jesus with same Madison Avenue sensibilities.
[...] Commercialism & Faith– Blog series by Don Miller [...]
It took me awhile to finally sit and read this entry but I love it! Thank you for exploring this topic, especially including ‘awareness’ advice. I wonder, if Christians would be brutally honest about the powerful effect of our consumption culture, might they not be set free & more able to obey Jesus in the area of giving & their “stuff”?
I’m amazed that some people have never thought about this before!
The allure of products – particularly making them sexy – is pretty powerful. Best not to make churches sexy, but there’s certainly manipulation going on with some advertising in the Christian world. Guilt trips are the most common -’Wouldn’t God want you to be like this’ or ‘What would Jesus do?’
As someone commented above, the good side of self improvement is finding how we can realise the potential that God has put in us. When we find products or services that help us to realise a step closer to that, then we reach a bit more of Christlikeness.
Surely the only one who can make us whole is Him, no matter how hard we try to the contrary.
What would life be like if we had 3000 messages a day that affirmed us of God’s goodness, His will for our lives and what He thinks about us. Looking at the world through that filter would be pretty powerful.
[...] particular, I suggest this post which is the first in a series on Commercialism and [...]