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by Tonya StonemanPeople who wear the latest tennis shoes are hipper and happier. A person doesn't look right without wearing name-brand clothing. Beauty products make people beautiful.
Are your children digesting messages like these as a part of their daily diets?
Frequently, advertisements designed to entice consumers to spend money draw people into a self-critical, materialistic mindset.
"Advertisers spend $6 billion a year on marketing products," says Dr. Jean Kilbourne, "and we are their product." In the pages of trade journals targeted at industry insiders, popular network MTV offers those who buy their airtime a chance to influence viewers who, it boasts, will do whatever the network tells them to do. Magazines geared toward young girls frequently position articles about the virtues of being thin next to advertisements for weight-loss products. Not a mere coincidence.
Commercials, magazine ads, and billboards constantly tell young people how they are supposed to look, dress, and spend their money.
But, the adverse effects of advertising don't only penetrate pocket books. "Deep down inside, I still want to be a supermodel," writes an aspiring young model. "As long as they're there, screaming at me from the television, glaring at me from magazines, I'm stuck in the model trap. Hate them first. Then grow to like them. Love them. Emulate them. Die to be them. All the while praying this cycle will come to an end."
Because children are exposed to an average of 20,000 television commercials per year, it is critically important for parents to teach them to discern the real messages behind Madison Avenue's airbrushed images. Once young people realize that advertisers turn a profit by making them feel insecure and unsatisfied with reality, they can counter destructive media messages with hard hitting truth.
While glossy ads teach modern-day myths like, "Independence is tantamount to enlightenment," "Money tis freedom," and "Material possessions will make you happy," the Bible offers a contrasting message that won't become passé when the fad dies.
The apostle Paul who was no stranger to the luxuries of wealth, and the brutality of poverty, who experienced fraternity and disenfranchisement, and who was first pagan and then Christian, offers a poignant message for our consumer society.
Consider the difference between Paul's wisdom and that of celluloid advertisers. For example, a car advertisement promotes the notion that expensive things can comfort and protect people: A luxury automobile glides across the pavement in the rain. Its passengers are sheltered comfortable inside by the car's durability and strength. A soothing voice states simply, " . . . a car that will save your soul."
But Paul iterates a different message. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6-8), he writes: "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19).
By playing on people's restless nature, the following credit card commercial assures viewers that money can make a boring life more satisfying: A young newly-wed has forgotten his first anniversary. At the last minute, he calls a travel agent and books tickets for an exotic, Asian bird watching safari. Naturally, he pays the bill with plastic. An announcer assures viewers that the credit card is, "wherever you want to be."
But Paul found, in his lifetime of plenty and want, that money is not the secret to contentment. "In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Phil.4:12B-13).
Ads like the following broadcast a message claiming material possessions can buy young people friends: A group of fabulously dressed teenagers dance to the rhythm of an upbeat band. They are all beautiful and happy. While this ad contains no spoken words, its message comes through loud and clear: wear these clothes and you will have lots of cool friends.
Paul writes truthfully about the temporal nature of material possessions, "For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction" (1 Tim. 6:7-9).
Countering the consumer message, Paul directs young people toward genuine contentment. The need for love and acceptance is arguably the strongest human motivator -- and God can satisfy it like nothing else. He loves without limits and accepts without restraint. When young people understand this, they will not be drawn to worldly substitutes. Unconditional love is a priceless gift no money can buy.
Tonya Stoneman is a staff writer with In Touch Ministries of Canada, PO Box 4900, Markham ON L3R 6G9
Taken from the March In Touch magazine, © 1999 In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, GA. Used with permission
