The Brand Gap - Part 2 - No Stock Christians
Roy's response to the last post got me thinking about 'stock Christians.' You know, stock photos of folks, good looking or full of character, used on mail-outs or other material promoting a church they (the stock people) have never been to, let alone heard of.
This is just the humble advice of one guy in Pearland, but, don't do it. Turn away from the dark side.
I'm not saying don't ever use stock photos of people. Just don't try and pass them off as your faithful members.
The other day I was driving here in P-land and I saw a new sign for a church. My first thought was, that looks cool. I didn't know that church was there. Those folks on the billboard look like they would be neat to hang out with. I would like to get to know them. I...oh. They aren't real people. Well, they are real people, but they aren't really at that church. It makes me wonder what else are they trying to pass off.
I attend a big church that does this. They put folks on our bulletin and it drives me crazy. I don't really understand why the bulletin, either. The sad thing is, at first they were all stock photos of white folks. At least they changed that.
Yes, these photos are usually high quality. They look slick. They are people you would like to get to know.
Don't be afraid of your people. They don't have to be real beautiful. Just real.
Of course, pets work too.
posted by Bart at 8:49 PM
1 Comments:
Bart-
I know exactly what you are saying here. I've been bothered by the fact that we don't use REAL faces of REAL members. Why do we feel the need to put on a "face" to the world? Whay are we afraid that WE ourselves won't appeal? Doesn't that go against the message of Christ? I don't know if Jesus was an attractive man, but you can be sure he wasn't afraid to be himself. And I think that's part of what drew people to him. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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