PowerMedia

A Night at the Movies


The United Church of Christ has recently put out a controversial commercial. This commercial is offensive to some people and even some networks have banned the commercial. The commercial begins with two men who look like bouncers from a nightclub in front of a church. They are standing behind a roped off area. As people begin to approach the church they let in whom they see fit to enter. People from minority backgrounds, handicapped, and what appears to be a gay couple are not allowed into the church. The ad then goes to a black screen that says, “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.” Following this the ad shows a large gathering of people from a lot of different backgrounds, races, and ages. They all seem to be very happy. The ad’s message is basically that no mater who you are or where you come from, you would be welcomed at the UCC.
Even though such stations as ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick@Night, TBS, TNT, Travel, and TV Land air the commercial, there are two major stations that have decided that the commercial is too controversial to air. These stations are NBC and CBS. The main reason these stations won’t air it is because of the message of gays being allowed into church. These two stations feel this is unacceptable.
The members of the United Church of Christ as well as myself and many other people are kind of shocked by NBC and CBS’ ban of the ad. All the ad was trying to do was gain members for the UCC. Also, if you look at some other commercials on TV today, it makes this commercial look heavenly. There are countless commercials that use violence and sex to sell their products, yet every station shows them.
I believe that depending on where u are located and how you were brought up will determine how you feel about this ad. Myself for example thinks the commercial is not controversial at all. But I believe someone growing up in rural America and who practices a strong religious life might take offence to the ad. They may think the depiction of a church as a nightclub or bar as offensive. Or they may believe that gays should not be allowed to attend church.
Like usual, I wait to the last second to do things. As a result, my essay is similar to others. It simply states the facts. Then I realized I watch a lot of movies, mostly when I should be doing homework. I realized that a couple movies that I have seen in the past can relate to the UCC’s commercial.
The first movie that comes to mind is “Made”. In this movie there is a certain scene where the two main actors (Vince Vaughn & Jon Farvreau) try to enter a nightclub. Although they are well dressed, they are not let into the club mainly because of their “rough” appearance and the fact that the bouncers are not “familiar” of them. This seems to be true in the UCC commercial. Just because the bouncers at the church aren’t “familiar” with lets say Hispanics or gay people, they do not let them in. To make matters worse in the movie, Screech (Saved By the Bell) comes to the front of the line and then let in with no questions asked. Is he let in because he looks less aggressive or fits the “status quo” better? I understand it is just a movie and also deals with different subjects, but I thought they were both good examples of discrimination. Even though I believe that Vince Vaughn and Jon Farvreau should have been let into the club, others might think differently; just as people did with the UCC commercial. Others may see “Made” and agree with the bouncer’s decision.
Another movie that comes to mind is “The Mask”. In this movie Jim Carey tries to enter a nightclub but is denied because he doesn’t fit into the nightclub’s “status quo”. Yet when he returns as “the Mask” he is welcomed with open doors because he is now recognized by the club as being “cool” and part of the “in crowd”. But what exactly is “cool”?
In conclusion, I believe the commercial is not controversial in any way. I believe the UCC just wanted to get their message across that all people are welcome. I believe that it all depends where you come from (Blue or red state), whether you agree or disagree with the commercial.

LEGO Mountaineers - Team #1144 - We won!

Read about a team of young ladies that won a robotics contest. These are the kind of thing syou need to follow to stay up on emergent technology.

If I were to make a commercial to appeal to all faiths, I would open it with maybe Reverand Jesse Jackson preaching for a few seconds, then I would show other speeches by different religious leaders, and I would tie in as many different religions as possible. I would then make sure to show somebody who is an athiest, or who doesn't believe in God. I would then get as many people together and have them all representing different religions and faiths, and show that they can all live together in harmony.

---Mike D.

Some commercials on television are clearly inappropriate. For example, you are not going to see a commercial for Trojan condoms while watching Nick Jr. on a Monday morning. Other commercials seem inappropriate all of the time, like the commercial during an NFL game several weeks ago featuring a scantily clad Nicolette Sheridan trying to seduce Terrell Owens as he prepared for the upcoming game. There are other commercials, however, that come along every so often that for one reason or another upset the wrong people, and end up being banned from certain networks. One of these commercials is the recent commercial for the United Church of Christ (UCC). The commercial in question begins with two bald "bouncers" standing in front of a church, allowing some people in, and denying others entrance. It then shows a group of diverse people standing in front of a church as a voice over says, "The United Church of Christ. No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey...you're welcome here." Before it's original airing on TV, NBC and CBS decided not to air the commercial because it might be considered "too controversial". According to an article on the stillspeaking.com website, "According to a written explanation from CBS, the United Church of Christ is being denied network access because its ad implies acceptance of gay and lesbian couples -- among other minority constituencies -- and is, therefore, too 'controversial.'" You can read this and other articles on the following website: http://www.stillspeaking.com/news/release2.html.

Another article shown on tolerance.org further discusses the motives of the two stations not to allow this commercial. “We have a longstanding policy of not accepting advocacy ads or issue-oriented ads, “‘So, this answers the question of why certain networks will not play the commercial.’” You can read more from this website here: http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=1114

Another question that might be asked is how exactly the United Church of Christ responded to the ban of the commercial by NBC and CBS. The previous article also talks about the UCC’s response to the two networks’ feelings of the commercials. According to this article, the UCC is not trying to say that all other churches are discriminatory; they are simply saying that they are not. Says UCC spokesperson Barb Powell "‘(The ad) is not about an issue. It's not about bashing other churches. We believe all churches have a legitimate voice. And we believe all religious voices deserve to be heard.’" This is an interesting point, but it is somewhat hard to take too seriously. The fact that the commercial shows bouncers in front of a church sending people away shows that it is casting a negative light over some churches. Does the imagery work? Of course it does. I have personally only seen the commercial twice (and both times were at the same sitting), and I still remember the strong imagery. This includes the bouncers standing out in front of the church, as well as the gay couple getting sent away, the Hispanic-looking teenager getting sent away, as well as the boy in a wheelchair. Although the commercial has sparked controversy, it is not off of most major networks. So, the public will have the chance to see these commercials, and the images will be remembered. This commercial reminds me of an advertising campaign that started maybe fifteen years ago (if my memory serves me correctly). This campaign was for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. I remember one commercial in particular in which a man is riding his bike, and an SUV drives by and splashes a puddle of water on him. The man on the bike looks somewhat frustrated. However, later down the road, the man in the SUV is broken down, and out of the goodness of his heart, the man on the bike pulls over to help the man change his tire. Now, I have not seen that commercial for at least ten years, and I can recount those images without really too much difficulty. If the UCC commercials generate a few more commercials in their campaign, there is a good chance that many people who are searching for themselves or that are not happy with their current religion will become interested in becoming a member.

Although the United Church of Christ is not yet an extremely popular religion, church leaders hope that after a series of commercials (including the one mentioned above with the bouncers, first airing on December 1^st) will bolster its recognition. If you would like to know more about the UCC, you can take a look at some of the websites posted below. Otherwise, look for their commercials on TV, and decide for yourself whether they are worthy of being banned, and whether NBC and CBS will kick themselves for not airing a commercial that would have boosted their ratings.

http://www.ucc.org/index1.html (OFFICIAL WEBSITE)

http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com (UCC BLOGS)

http://www.madhoo.com/archives/002663.php (BLOG AGAINST UCC)

---Mike D.

http://powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/09/democrats-and-republicans-look-into.html

http://powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/10/response-to-red-questions-us-and-its.html

http://powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/11/trio.html

http://powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/11/religious-differences.html

Chronological

How were products advertised in Medieval times?

How did the mail order catalogs of the 1800’s/early 1900’s impact the American economy?

A major European nation developed the first coordinated war-time media policy during the Great War, the War to End all Wars. Describe the plan, and some of the people involved.

What German official wrote an illustrative piece on propaganda use in 1934? What were his views on existing and emerging technology of his time?

***Based on the previous question, how important is understanding new technologies?
Can a practitioner anticipate emergent technology?

Advertising/Mass Media is Epistemic. Use the German people with a time frame of 1924-1945 to explain the concept.

Who wrote the first detailed election plan for Harry Truman? What was significant about this?

Who is the most important person in a presidential election?

How can media literacy help a citizen fully understand their civil/political processes?

Ten facts.

See you either Tuesday or Thursday at 11:30.