Self-Referential Church Ads Remove Stuffy Stigma With Humor

episcopal_church_truck_ad.jpg

Adrants reader John Brock sent us this amusing radio commercial, created as a joke by church member Mike McKenzie, for Birmingham, AL St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. The spot mirrors the tone and style of those monster truck “Suuuundaaaaaaay” commercials replacing the the usual auto-speak with church-speak. While it’s not an official commercial for the church, it has been heard by church leadership who may decide to air it. There’s also an airline version of the spot.

Church is stuffy. Life used to be stuffy. The two went hand in hand beautifully. Today, life isn’t stuffy but church remains so. Just as the United Church of Christ, one of the most liberal mainstream churches, did with its “we accept all” gay-themed spot, the Episcopal Church, Catholic church without the pope and circumstance, could surely use some self-referential humor to attract jaded, modern Americans through the doors on Sunday.

Picture of Steve Hall

Steve Hall

RECENT ARTICLES

TRENDING AROUND THE WEB

Decades of research on expressive writing have found that writing honestly about a difficult experience for even a few minutes a day can improve mood and some physical health measures afterward — especially when people put feelings into words instead of just replaying the experience in their heads.

Decades of research on expressive writing have found that writing honestly about a difficult experience for even a few minutes a day can improve mood and some physical health measures afterward — especially when people put feelings into words instead of just replaying the experience in their heads.

Global English Editing

If someone secretly looks down on you, they’ll usually display these 7 behaviors

If someone secretly looks down on you, they’ll usually display these 7 behaviors

Hack Spirit

9 qualities of a truly good friend that have nothing to do with how often you speak

9 qualities of a truly good friend that have nothing to do with how often you speak

Hack Spirit

Benjamin Franklin won over a rival lawmaker in the 1730s by asking to borrow a book instead of doing him a favor, and psychologists later found the same trick makes total strangers like you more

Benjamin Franklin won over a rival lawmaker in the 1730s by asking to borrow a book instead of doing him a favor, and psychologists later found the same trick makes total strangers like you more

Global English Editing

Sociologist Charles Derber’s research on what he called conversational narcissism found that constantly steering a conversation back to yourself, even with something as small as “that reminds me of the time I—,” quietly starves the other person of the attention their story needed.

Sociologist Charles Derber’s research on what he called conversational narcissism found that constantly steering a conversation back to yourself, even with something as small as “that reminds me of the time I—,” quietly starves the other person of the attention their story needed.

Global English Editing

The difference between someone who invites people over easily and someone who needs three days’ notice usually comes down to one childhood rule

The difference between someone who invites people over easily and someone who needs three days’ notice usually comes down to one childhood rule

Hack Spirit