5 out of 6 Hotties Agree
That is the slogan printed on a Juicy Fruit poster hanging in my room. I got it from a city bus. I was struck by the blatant attempt at reaching the teenage demographic. There seemed to be some deeper wisdom too. For a teenage guy, the expert opinion that they rely on is not a doctor, parent, or pastor, but the hottie. At least that was often the case for me, when I was a teenage guy.

But there is a deeper wisdom to this entire new marketing campaign that Juicy Fruit has taken on. In their new commercials, they have preppie nerd types singing their old song, and then being rejected, assaulted, etc. They aren't ridiculing other gum companies, but their own former image. In my recollection of advertising, this is unprecedented. It would almost be as if Cadbury started a new marketing campaign where a company representative came out from behind a grassy knoll, and said, "We put chocolate into a mold, freeze it, then pour caramel into each section, and we pour chocolate on top, forming a base. It's not really much of a secret." Sure we all know how they get it there, but their image is that it's a secret. It's kinda like when the World Wrestling Federation stopped hiding that they were fake, except that was sports entertainment, and we're talking advertising.

The Juicy Fruit people are saying to us, "Hey look, we have a new box, new flavours, and a whole new image. Try us out!" Cadbury may do that down the road too. When it comes to the church, everyone has a different idea of how to market themselves. My friends in the emerging church would identify with the Juicy Fruit campaign. Many of us in mainstream churches (I don't really call Mennonite churches mainstream, but that's not my judgment call. They pay my bills, I'm biased.) are viewed as the Caramilk bar, holding on to beliefs and traditions that are outdated, fantastical and irrelevant. Yes Cadbury, by comparing your ad slogan to the centuries old sociological and intellectual disengagement of faith within Christendom, I am saying that I do think your marketing campaign is outdated. Marketers know full well that a created image might sell a product once, but if it's a bad product negative word-of-mouth advertising will kill it.

When we redefine ourselves, our churches or our intellectual pursuits, it has to be worth keeping when someone is convinced to pick it up off the shelf.

   [ posted by William @ 5:01 PM ]