PowerMedia

The United Church of Christ is a religious community of
faith "that seeks to respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and
deed." This faith believes that all people are equal, and Jesus'
prayer for the UCC is "that they all may be one". To further their
belief that all people are equal and welcomed into their church, the UCC
recently produced a commercial advertisement to inform the public of the
churches desire to welcome everyone into the church, regardless of age,
gender, race, sexual preference, ethnicity, etc.

The ad begins with two muscular men standing behind a red
velvet rope outside of a church. These two men are depicted as the
"bouncers" of this church. The ad shows these men turning away people
who appear to be different, such as homosexual couples, and people of
different races. The bouncers are discriminating heavily and the only
people they allow to enter the church are white, heterosexuals. The ad then
cuts to a black screen with the phrase "Jesus didn't turn people
away. Neither do we." The purpose of this ad is to demonstrate to the
public that the UCC does not discriminate, and all are welcome to
worship at their church, because they believe all people are equal and
everyone has a right to be welcomed into their church despite their
differences.

By some, this ad has been deemed too controversial to be
played on air, whereas others do not believe this idea. The reasoning for
this ad being controversial is the way it has been framed. George
Lakoff, "master of metaphor" is a professor of linguistics at a
university in California who says that language is the key to any message.
Framing the message is an important concept when trying to convey a message
in favor of your position. The way you frame a message determines how
influential and effective the message will be. In the case of United
Church of Christ ad, the manner in which they frame the message is the
determining factor of its controversial elements. The message of the
church is simple and not controversial, they do not discriminate. However,
the frame they use to proclaim this message is controversial. By having
these bouncers reject several types of people for their differences,
becomes controversial due to the severity of the discriminating being
done. Lakoff also explains that the issues are not as important as the
frame they use, which in this particular case, is clearly evident.

The purpose of the ad was to educate and inform the public
of the views of the UCC with the overall message being a positive and
uplifting one. Although the UCC may feel that this ad is not
detrimental, it has offended some, including two major networks including CBS and
NBC who are refusing to air it on their stations. In an article on the
UCC website, http://www.ucc.org/news/u113004a.htm they cite the reasons
for the stations refusal to air it being that the acceptance of gays
and minorities into the church is too controversial. Also mentioned in
the article is how during this election year, many more controversial
ads have been aired prior to the election, yet this ad with a positive
message underneath a seemingly harsh frame could be rejected, is almost
ironic.

I feel that the majors networks that are refusing to air
this ad are missing the message of the UCC and are too focused on the
frame that is being used. The frame is an effective one, and the networks
are concerned with technicalities such as minorities and gays being
accepted into a church. This is exactly the point of the ad, which is
addressing how other faiths refuse to accept these people, and that they
believe all people are equal and have a right to worship their faith
somewhere. I also find it interesting that these networks themselves are in
the minority, with the majority of the networks accepting the ad
including family oriented networks such as ABC family.



For more information about the United Church of Christ here are some
websites:



http://www.ucc.org/index1.html




http://www.stillspeaking.com/default.htm




http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com/chuck_currie/2004/12/god_is_still_sp.html