Stick-On Love -- FPC sermon excerpt
Many years ago, advertisers discovered an important truth: Emotion sells products. Back in 1921, Palmolive asked women the question, “Would your husband marry you again?”
With this ad, the soap-maker was tapping into a fear of isolation and loneliness. The hidden message was, “Without Palmolive, you are going to be all alone.”
Today, we see ads for Axe deodorant reflecting a desire that most young men have — they want to be irresistible to women. We watch ads for Heineken beer that make a connection with our longing for world peace. How else can you explain the heart-warming commercial that shows Heineken beers being handed from mountain men … to Indians … to ballerinas?
It makes no sense. Except that emotion sells products.
When we take a step back and think about these ads, we realize that we are being manipulated. “It’s all stick-on emotion,” write Dan and Chip Heath in Fast Company magazine (October 2009). I like that expression, because it communicates how thin and artificial the emotion is. Take some fear of isolation, and stick it on Palmolive soap. Take some sexual desire, and stick it on Axe deodorant. Take some longing for world peace, and stick it on Heineken beer.
On Mother’s Day, I’m reminded of how advertisers are especially good at using stick-on love against mothers. Most fabric softeners, for instance, sell their product by convincing moms that they are not really softening their family’s clothes — they are telling their children, “I love you.” A bottle of Downy is a bottle of love.
Dan and Chip Heath know the truth, however. Moms, if you really want to show your love, give your kids unlimited texting.
What’s really important is that we find ways to replace stick-on love with authentic love. That is exactly what Jesus is calling us to do in the Gospel of John. Jesus doesn’t want us to practice stick-on love, love that is only a word to be slapped on something. He wants us to replace this fake and manipulative emotion with a real one; he wants us to go deep and show our love in action by really keeping his word (John 14:23).
With this ad, the soap-maker was tapping into a fear of isolation and loneliness. The hidden message was, “Without Palmolive, you are going to be all alone.”
Today, we see ads for Axe deodorant reflecting a desire that most young men have — they want to be irresistible to women. We watch ads for Heineken beer that make a connection with our longing for world peace. How else can you explain the heart-warming commercial that shows Heineken beers being handed from mountain men … to Indians … to ballerinas?
It makes no sense. Except that emotion sells products.
When we take a step back and think about these ads, we realize that we are being manipulated. “It’s all stick-on emotion,” write Dan and Chip Heath in Fast Company magazine (October 2009). I like that expression, because it communicates how thin and artificial the emotion is. Take some fear of isolation, and stick it on Palmolive soap. Take some sexual desire, and stick it on Axe deodorant. Take some longing for world peace, and stick it on Heineken beer.
On Mother’s Day, I’m reminded of how advertisers are especially good at using stick-on love against mothers. Most fabric softeners, for instance, sell their product by convincing moms that they are not really softening their family’s clothes — they are telling their children, “I love you.” A bottle of Downy is a bottle of love.
Dan and Chip Heath know the truth, however. Moms, if you really want to show your love, give your kids unlimited texting.
What’s really important is that we find ways to replace stick-on love with authentic love. That is exactly what Jesus is calling us to do in the Gospel of John. Jesus doesn’t want us to practice stick-on love, love that is only a word to be slapped on something. He wants us to replace this fake and manipulative emotion with a real one; he wants us to go deep and show our love in action by really keeping his word (John 14:23).
posted by Henry Brinton | 10:36 AM
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