This is the substance of an e-mail reply I made to a friend inquiring about what I consider to be fraudulent advertising of the movie Noah to the Christian community on Christian media: I had no objection to the movie itself. Like I put in my FB post, a movie is a movie. I objected to the fraudulent implication that it was a Biblical account of Noah in its advertising on Christian radio. One could parse the copy of the advertising (I dont have the copy in front of me and my memory doesnt automatically go to specific copy points) and say, See? They didnt claim it was biblical, but that was the clear impression the advertising gave. Considering that the ads were purchased on Christian media and the name Noah was trumpeted, it is too much of a stretch to posit that the marketing was not intended to give the impression that this was a Biblical account (impressions make the sale as opposed to truthful copy - hence the election of Obama.) There was of course a disclaimer stating some creative treatments were presented in the movie but the producers believe the movie was true to biblical intent and values. The feedback I got from both my listeners and from Christians on Facebook indicates they too were under the impression it depicted the biblical Noah - many of whom thanked me that I gave them a heads-up causing them to change their plans and not see the movie, others of whom saw the movie and realized they had been defrauded. I get engaging the culture and all that. But engaging the culture after being fraudulently induced to attend the movie is something quite different. Accepting the advertising the first time may have been a mistake. But I believe our advertising peoples acceptance of a followup buy (after the fraud was exposed) hurts our commercial credibility. When I do an endorsement of a product, while I do get paid for the endorsement, there is an implicit trust that I am endorsing something that I truly believe in. That trust, with this advertising buy, is now strained by our corporate lapse in standards. So I admit this anger on my part is personal. But it also is because I think we in Christian media, while dependent upon commercial income, should also be able to be trusted in what we do and do not choose to advertise. To advertise a movie by saying something like, this is an opportunity to see what false religious thought is driving the culture and your opportunity to develop a Biblical response (which of course the producers would never allow) would be fine. But to imply, because of advertising in a Biblical-honoring setting, that this movie is Biblically-based, clearly causes (or should cause) listeners to be on-guard of our commitment to truthful advertising. And that is tragic.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 15:17:28 +0000
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