A divine business plan: Use of (Christian) 'affinity marketing' growing

[Maddy McCall]

A divine business plan: Use of 'affinity marketing' growing

ORLANDO-
snip/ In the face of increasingly fierce competition for consumers, small-business owners and service providers are capitalizing on the growth of evangelical Christians throughout the Sun Belt.

Scores of business owners believe in this kind of "affinity marketing," in which people of faith patronize each other. Some use symbols such as crosses, fish or doves in their ads in the commercial Yellow Pages.

Others advertise in Christian publications and directories, such as Florida Christian News and The Shepherd's Guide, a directory with more than a hundred listings that is distributed free. Advertisers must sign a declaration of faith to include the Shepherd's Guide logo, a silhouette of a shepherd and sheep, on ads in the directory.

Hall, 30, added the slogan "We Do the Work, God Gets the Glory" to his truck, his ads and his business cards. Work orders feature a Bible verse from Colossians 3:23: "Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord."

snip/

More at: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060527/FEAT04/605270319/1263


A sanctuary in the suburbs:
Rankin County developers create own divine design


FLOWOOD — With its Acadian-style homes, lakefront views and proximity to Rankin County's shopping mecca, Lineage Lake of Lakeland may be for some people a little slice of heaven.

A drive along a few streets of this gated community - Shalom Way, Covenant Crossing, Inheritance Place - demonstrates the developer's desire to create a sanctuary in the suburbs.

"Our very being is our Christianity," said Sigrid Garner of R&S Developers. "We desire to glorify the Lord in what we say and do."

Lineage Lake of Lakeland is one of three Rankin County subdivisions that Garner's company has created with a Christian motif. With street names plucked from Scripture, these neighborhoods reveal an intersection of faith and business.

snip/

"Because that's our foundation, other people will be attracted because they are Christian," she said.

More here: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060527/FEAT04/605270321

[supernova]

1. Ugh. I hate this kind of crap marketing

Using conservative evangelical xtainity as some kind of short-hand for the new in-crowd demographic. :puke: And you know why I hate it most of all?

Because it works. :-(

[Warpy]

2. I'm sorry, but a lifetime of bitter experience has caused me

to associate bible verses in Yellow Pages advertising, billboards, and store signs with cut corners, less than honest disclosure, and outright thievery. It's even worse now that the predominant strain of virulent religion is Calvinism, one that gives its memebers dispensation to lie, cheat, steal, and generally wreak havoc if only they beeeleeeeve in Jesus.

People who want to sanitize the world from everything that isn't their own narrow interpretation of one book are going to find their businesses sanitized of quite a few customers, because I'm not the only one out there who realizes people who have to prove how holy they are have a whole lot of stuff to cover up.

[WatchWhatISay]

47. Amen to all that you said

My husband once chose an attorney out of the yellow pages based on the fact that he had one of those fish symbols. Lying, cheating, lazy bastard screwed us bad - we should have sued his ass.

I hired a contractor to level my floors 3 years ago, so that I could install wood floors. Jerk charged me $3000 and most of the floor worked cracked because he watered the compound down so much to save money, even though I paid him enough to purchase sufficient materials. Before disaster struck, everytime I called him, every call ended with God Bless You (I hired him in spite of this, never again!). After his work crumbled, he disappeared. I hope that there is a God and he gets his judgement day!

[Cronus Protagonist]

59. I agree - I like these ads, though - I know which companies to avoid

Makes the decision as to who to choose for a given job much easier. Companies that advertise a religious sect are immediately eliminated from my list of vendors. In fact, I hope more companies do this because it makes my selection sooo much easier.

Educate A Freeper - Flaunt Your Opinions!
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[bperci108]

3. Yuck....

Looks like the moneychangers have not just come back into the Temple, they now seek to own the Temple itself. :puke:

Time to make another whip.... ;)

[texanshatingbush]

4. WWJD?

One of the things that bothers me most about this sort of thing is the "exclusionary country club" atmosphere it creates for christianity. I'm pretty sure Jesus wouldn't segregate himself from the "unwashed" like this.

On a similar note: just yesterday, I was in Hobby Lobby and realized that the muzak in the place was playing nothing but jazzed-up christian music, hymns with a pop beat. It was weird.

[KatyaR]

11. FYI about Hobby Lobby

Its founder is a born-again Christian, and the reason why they don't use scanner pricing technology in their stores is because he believes it's the sign of the devil.

[knitter4democracy]

49. Did you see the Scripture Mints next to the checkout?

Those make me laugh every time. I bought them once to see what they were, and they're little fish shaped mints (like the Christian logo fish thingy with too sharp edges) with a Bible verse on the inside of the lid.

WTF?! Seriously--someone will become a Christian because of a mint?! That's so amazingly stupid! It reminds me of the moneychangers in the Temple that Jesus whipped and yelled at for taking advantage of the faithful.

[Demeter]

5. I'd Like One of Those Directories

so I would know who are the crazies, and avoid them like the plague!

[adriennui]

12. know thine enemies

good, i want to know who the idiots are so i can avoid them. but i must confess in NY they aren't much of a presence.

[morningglory]

6. My son was in a gospel bluegrass band. They played in churches

between festival gigs. Their boss, a strong Christian, always stationed an extra person at the CD table, because the Christians always stole them blind. Edited to add that they very rarely had anything stolen at a bluegrass festival.

[Danmel]

7. Do they put a copy of the Prayer of Jabez in each home?

Lord, I live on Prosperity Place. Increase my portion? Seriously weird and nauseating all at the same time.

[knitter4democracy]

50. Oh, good. I'm not the only one who has a problem with that one.

That Jabez prayer stuff seems too close to Prosperity Theology to me. Why not just pray the Lord's Prayer or the Jesus Prayer, as Christians have done for over a thousand years?

[timtom]

8. Permit me to weigh in as a Christian

I despise symbols that are worn as personal adornments. I don't believe in wearing crosses, for example (the bigger and gaudier, the better).

And I certainly don't appreciate any sort of clannishness and exclusionary behavior.

I don't listen to christian radio stations becaused they are lockstep with the neocon agenda.

I would feel very uncomfortable in a christian networking environment. Associating business to one's faith is, to me, a form of desecration. And all of it serves as a distraction from the basic premise of:

Love God

Love one another (even if they are radically different from you)

Period.

[laureloak]

58. The teachings of Christ seem to be lost on today's

"Christian".

[Dogmudgeon]

9. This is not a new development (plus nostalgic digression)

It was first aggressively promoted nationally in the late 1970s, and was probably used in the Bible Belt before that. I remember several of my friends consulting the local Jesus Pages in order to avoid those businesses.

We also had a major bigwig in the John Birch Society who lived in the next town. All the local libraries were well-stocked with The Blue Book (the JBS "bible") and its related publications, and he managed to get several "bad books" removed. He was either the mayor, or was the money behind the mayor, until 1970 when a liberal Republican (they still had some in those days) waxed his soft, pale ass by a huge margin, and served from 1970 until 2000. That fellow is now known as "The Mayor", not the JBS freak.

The Mayor retired in 2000, closed his business, a record store that carried a lot of rare stuff from the 1950s all the way through indie-punk music -- Nick Lowe was one of his customers, and he stopped by a couple times when he was touring in the USA. Françoise Hardy was also a customer, IIRC.

Although he was a Republican, The Mayor had a mind of his own, was popular with "The Kids", and got a couple of the local churches up in arms over some of the material in his record store. ("Teach Me Tiger", no doubt, and maybe "American Pie" and "Never Mind the Bollocks", too).

I assume The Mayor is taking it easy these days, and NOT reading the Religiously Segregated Yellow Pages.

--p!
Ah! The Good Old Days! How they sucked!

[Delphinus]

10. I do my best to

avoid businesses that are associated with Christianity.

[Jade Fox]

25. It's the latest hustle......

"Christian Businesses" that is. I won't patronize them, not because I appose Christianity, but because like the separation of Church and State, there should be a separation of Church and Business. Jesus is not a spokesmodel.

[Lexingtonian]

13. Ah yes, Christian Materialism in action....

Somehow these Very Moral people never quite realize that these are irreconcilable entities.

[lynne]

14. How is this any different than -

- the concept of "Buying Blue"? Many different groups will network with each other for consumer purposes. Some political, some religious, some ethnic. This isn't a new marketing concept and isn't exclusive to Christians.

The advantage is that it works both way in that you also know who NOT to patronage if you don't like their politics, religion or whatever marketing nitch they're advertising to.

[Oak2004]

19. I think there is a difference

and the difference has to do with agenda and relative power.

Buying blue right now is a strategy of a group on the defensive, seeking to regain its strength. It is not the strategy of an intolerant group seeking to consolidate power. Were the Democrats to regain control of all three branches of the government, then seek to eliminate all opponents, I would see buying blue in a very different light as well.

[Miss Chybil]

23. I half agree with you, but I don't believe there really is a difference.

People like to work, live, trade with and socialize with like-minded people. That's why we're here on DU, as opposed to hanging out at Free Republic. It's just the way people are. It's natural. We are tribal animals. It's also natural as "tribes" grow and become more powerful, they discover they have the ability to force others think and live as they do. This is where the danger lies. It is repeated throughout history. So, I understand what you are saying about thinking of buying blue differently, were they to gain an unfair advantage, but the very human tendency towards this type of behavior is the same, at it's seed, in all facets of our existence.

[lolly]

26. I agree with you

We all have a right to decide who we want to do business with, so I don't really have any objection to this stuff at all.

As several people have pointed out, in fact, it makes it easier for others to know which businesses to avoid.

I would hope that nobody, however, bases their entire decision on major purchases on whether somebody is in BuyBlue or in the Jesus Yellow Pages. Go ahead and start there, but then make sure you're not getting taken advantage of by somebody who is using our "tribal" instinct to lower our defenses.

This is where the folks who read the Jesus pages fall rather woefully short. These people seem extremely vulnerable to the "I'm a Christian, so you can trust me" B.S. (hence their voting choices).

A friend of mine once said that if you really want to get rich, just make your living by walking into Christian churches with a large paper bag and say "I'm a Christian and I want your money to invest in Christian businesses that will help spread Christianity." Then watch the bag fill up with money, praise Jesus loudly, and leave. Repeat at next church.

And is that really so far from what the televangelists do?

[pokercat999]

39. Hmmmmm, now I'm interested......lol

[Igel]

27. Precisely.

People don't shop at Walmart because they don't like its practices; they don't buy Coors or Microsoft or Domino's pizza because they don't agree with it.

The next step is to support the stores whose owners agree with you.

I read this, and I thought "it's just 'buy blue' in reverse, it's 'buy red'". Granted, it's 'buy a specific shade of red'. But it's nothing new, at all. It was going on in the '80s.

Edited to remove an errant apostrophe.

[Oak2004]

31. I agree, but I don't think the errant tribalism

of Buy Blue as a means of domination is likely, whereas Buy Jesus really is Dominionism.

Quite simply, there are many competing "tribes" we all belong to, and we're able to pick and choose which "tribes" we belong to (excluding true tribal affinities built on blood ties, which are very difficult, though still not entirely impossible in the 21st century, to pick and choose).

For example, I am affiliated with this DU "tribe" by accident rather than intent. I'm a former liberal Republican who is now without a national party since mine has gone fascist berzerko. I identify with and vote for Vermont Progressives when possible in local elections in Vermont, and I am a Democratic voter by default in national elections (I will not vote for unelectable third party candidates) and in state and local elections where there are no Progressives contesting the seat, or when the risk of splitting the vote and allowing a fascist berzerko to waltz in is too great. That's a tribal "affiliation" of 100% progressive-small-p, 50% Democratic voter, which is sufficient to feel welcome on this board, but it's also a point of division, when it comes to Democratic candidates, approximately half the time.

(To make Vermont political tribalism even more confusing, there isn't a clean line of demarcation between Vermont progressive Democrats and Progressives. There are quite a few progressive Democrats, including candidates and elected officials, who feel that Democratic Party affiliation is the tactically correct thing to do, but who make their Progressive Party sympathies very clear off the record. And, just as unofficially, the Progressive Party does its best to avoid fielding competing candidates against such Democrats (though, by its bylaws, the party can't actually cross-endorse them).

If it would ever be possible (I don't think it is) to restore the old style Republican Party, with a right, left, and center, I'd happily return to my old party to help keep the restored party honest. This would make me technically "the opposition" to this board (though I suspect that such a happy day would result in DU and the Freeps realigning themselves as purely left-right boards, as was the case with comparable entities back in the day of sane Republicanism. I remember a time when the membership of the Americans for Democratic Action included a contingent of my fellow liberal Republicans, and it was policy, not party, that mattered). Similarly, were the Vermont Progressive Party to become a successful national party (highly unlikely), I'd either be unwelcome here or this board would realign itself.

Are you dizzy enough trying to track political affinities? That not-so-simple account of my political "tribe" doesn't even begin to delve into my ethnic affinity, or my religious affinity, my disability-related affinities, my sports and other hobby affinities, etc. etc. Most of these put me side-by-side at times with freepers, and sometimes put me in direct opposition to other small-p progressives, Progressives, and Democrats.

(Quasi-tangential comment: In fact, I think the US, or what survives of it, will eventually realign itself into left, right, and centrist parties. I'm not sure when the realignment will occur, or whether any of the parties will be the direct descendants of any of the current political parties. If I had to lay bets on a scenario, though, it would be not all that long after the current regime is soundly expelled from power, if the beltway Democrats insist on staying the course in imperial foreign policy, or in pro-business anti-citizen economic policies, or in trampling on Americans' civil liberties, or in suicidal environmental policies. Then the Democratic leadership would be in the same role Kerensky tried to occupy in 1917, and nothing more infuriates a populace that has just successfully thrown off one round of entrenched and intransigent oppression than to be served up another course of almost the same thing, only less powerful. Mind you I'm not predicting revolution, as in 1917. Unlike 1917 Russia, I think we have enough of a democratic tradition to direct our revolutionary impulses towards overthrowing our current party system, which would have, at such a hypothetical moment, driven itself off the cliff of credibility, and crashed and burned, in the valley of deceit and ineffectualness. I believe neither major party will survive the revolt, although the new parties may grow out of PACs, 527s, and grassroots organizations once associated with the old parties. Return to topic: Party affiliation isn't as immutable as the blood ties of true tribalism, and is fully capable of changing, even changing abruptly, if sufficiently provoked).

[JVS]

37. I agree with you

[LeighAnn]

15. Idolatry sells

>>>Some use symbols such as crosses, fish or doves in their ads in the commercial Yellow Pages.

Yes, reducing the message of the Creator (and of the Savior) into little fishes and doves may be idolatry and offensive to the One you claim to worship, but it lets people know that you support Bush and the war.

Evangelicals don't make any effort to hide their idolatry, strangely (while they go about condemning others for breaking the laws of God). They hold their hands on their hearts and give praise to the Star Spangled Banner, they affix plastic "Jesus Fish" to their vehicles and they get all their news from the same company that has given our nation "American Idol", all the while praising warmongers and cursing people who want Peace.

[onager]

16. Reminds me of Ambrose Bierce's wisecrack...

It went something like this: "The first Xian businessmen were the contractors who dug the post-holes on Mt. Calvary."

:rofl:

But I'm just an Angry Whackjob Atheist. At least the businesses advertising with the fish/Roman capital punishment device/Bible verse etc. are nice enough to warn me that they do not want my money. And I'm nice enough to oblige those establishments by not buying anything from them.

[IndianaGreen]

17. Like the merchants in the Temple...

I get it! Let a crooked businessman put the sign of a fish or a cross outside his establishment, and the suckers will flock with open wallets.

[Gman]

18. Want to make some money?

Start a religion, according to L Ron Hubbard. He was right.

[RoseMead]

22. Reminds me

also of the logic behind Cartman's Christian Rock band on South Park. One of my favorite episodes. :)

[VegasWolf]

20. LOL!! I, an atheist, started getting this Christian mailing crap all the

the time. I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong to start receiving all these xtian solicitations until I saw the these mailings were addressed to Dear Resident. These xtian solicitations were charging 10-20% higher fees for their services. I guess god's blessing comes at an additional price!

[bain_sidhe]

21. Hmmm. Is this step "B" or "C"?

How "good germans" became Nazis...

From They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer:

"But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.

More here: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html

[Lars39]

32. That's immediately what I thought of.

[undeterred]

24. This isn't really new

I have an ex-relative who has been in "Christian" marketing for over 30 years. Truly one of the slimiest and dishonest people I have ever known. Cheated on his wife of 25 years for the last 5 years of their marriage. He moved out while she was away on a Church trip and left her a note on their dresser.

[Bear down under]

28. Taking the name of the Lord in vain?

Sounds like it to me.

[pooja]

29. no worse than what the catholic church has been doing for

many many years

[lolly]

30. What does the Catholic Church do?

Do churches have some sort of register of Catholic businesses or something?

I wonder if this grew out of older anti-Catholic prejudice?

In many areas, especially the South, Catholics were hated. Some Protestants still don't consider them Christians.

Maybe the effort to patronize Catholic businesses was a reaction to this sentiment. Why patronize people who hate you?

[LeftyMom]

35. I never saw or heard of a Catholic business directory in any parish

I've ever attended or even visited. I wouldn't be surprised if there's one someplace but in my experience it's much more a Evangelical practice than one common to Catholics or mainline Protestants.

[sarcasmo]

33. More places I will NOT shop.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

34. Alright! You've forced me to tell the donut story

In Rhode Island there was a chain of donut shops whose owner had become "born again" and decided to proselytize for Christianity. Now, this place was just like any generic Dunkin Donuts, but one day all of a sudden they started serving their coffee in styrofoam cups emblazoned with Biblical quotes, and not the sweet gentle, but real hell and brimstone type stuff. So, naturally, we thought that the perfect marketing slogan for them would have been:

Christ! What a donut!

[FooFootheSnoo]

36. People are free to advertise however they want to

But, I feel it's in very poor taste to use Jesus as a marketing tool. To me it shows a lack of humility. Honestly, if they believe Jesus went through everything he did in order to save their souls, shouldn't they be a little more reverent with his image? I certainly wouldn't use Jesus's image to sell something.

[Dervill Crow]

55. When she was little, my daughter thought the guy on the Zig Zag package

was Jesus.

(It wasn't my pot, by the way.)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

38. I recently cancelled a sale due to this crap.

I found a pair of slippers at a good price on Sierra Trading Post's website. I filled out the usual order forms, then proceeded to the payment page, where I was greeted by a Jesus quote. I've nothing against the Bible until someone sticks it in other people's faces.

I cancelled the order; and I refuse to do business with those who burble Jesus name about like so much irritating pollen.

[donco6]

40. I intentionally avoid any place with a fish or dove, etc.

Won't use any of them.

[JCMach1]

41. Once saw a Covenant Transport truck delivering merchandise

to the Adult Super Store!


XXX anyone?

[susanna]

62. Now THAT is funny, but not surprising...

...as a veteran road tripper, I see those Covenant trucks everywhere. Also, did you ever notice how many strip joints dot the "Bible Belt" landscape along the interstates? I mean seriously - way more than in the "librul north" as far as I can tell.

Re: Christian businesses, in Chicago I saw a carpeting van with a "Jesus Saves" graphic underneath his advertisment on I-94. I told my husband, "So, was Jesus a carpeter or carpenter?" My feeble attempt at a joke - my husband thought it was bad, but I cracked myself up. :-)

[blossomstar]

42. If I see a fish, dove or whatever.... I go the other way!

I am a Christian, but I feel that if someone has to USE their religion to get business, then that is out of line. Usually, these people will take you to the cleaners if given half the chance! A true Christian does not have to hold up a sign! It is known by the way they conduct themselves, their business, and the way they live their lives...

[lolly]

43. Now that I think of it . . .

I do a lot of online shopping, and the only really bad experience I've had was with a "Christian" company.

I found something I'd been looking for for a while there, and against my first instincts ("C'mon, Lolly, you're just being prejudiced") I placed an order.

Never got it. They never responded to my e-mails, although they still send me ads (which I've relegated to the junk mail folder).

The money lost wasn't worth the time to pursue it, so I dropped it, but, just so y'all know, don't ever order anything from "Vitanet."

[depakid]

44. What we will hear from "sanctuary in the suburbs" as gas prices

rise to $5, $6, $8 and $10 per gallon will be cries of "my God, why have you forsaken me?"

One curious aspect in the extensive literature on the collapse of complex societies is the rejection- and sometimes violent defacing of religious and cultural symbolism. It'll be interesting to see how that process might work in the coming decades.

[lastliberalintexas]

57. As happened after the French Revolution, to an extent

Some factions even wanted to rename months, days, and rework the calendar so as to have no refences to Christianity and to take away the former meaning of the Sabbath day.

I've often wondered lately if the religious leaders in the US just skipped that section in history class altogether, or if they just foolishly believe that such a rejection of religion would never happen in the US?

[NoodleyAppendage]

45. This is GREAT NEWS. Now, I can easily see what businesses to AVOID.

I welcome this technique. I'd rather now patronize any pro-christofacist businesses, so now I have a way of making the distinction.

J

[progressivebydesign]

46. A fix-it company here has "GOD - the ultimate power tool"

on their trucks and brochures.. Makes me wanna barf. :puke:

[WatchWhatISay]

48. It has been my experience that the truly spiritual always "walk

the walk", and almost never "talk the talk". Those are the religious people I admire.

Now days, as soon as they start "spouting the talk" I run like hell.

[htuttle]

51. They're just helping the marks, I mean 'the faithful', reach salvation

Saturday night the tent offers strippers. Sunday morning, prayers...

Step right up, it's only a dollar! One dollar for eternal salvation...

[MadHound]

52. I find it incredibly funny how little these fundies know

About their own religion. "Acadian-style homes", "Covenant Crossing":rofl: No wonder these fools are so regularly fleeced by televangilists, etc. They're education and native intelligence are sadly lacking.

[Pathwalker]

53. This is THE MARK OF THE BEAST.

n/t

[susanna]

63. My first thought, exactly.

My second thought the moneychangers in the temple, which a few other DUers picked up on as well...

[Megahurtz]

54. Oh Brother!

:eyes:

[lolly]

56. Some sort of colossal joke?

Or does Google link its ads to keywords on a page?

All the google ads at the top of the page are for Christian-themed merchandise.

And what the hell is a "Christian ringtone" anyway? How would I know one if I heard it?

[DuaneBidoux]

60. Ask a Jew how it feels...it reminds them of something.

[cpamomfromtexas]

61. LET'S HAVE SOMETHING TO IDENTIFY DU'ERS

I've been hoping for this for some time. I do bus on web and ebay, how about something we will recognize one another by?