does God need marketing?
There’s an ad campaign going on now in London (this is a flickr picture) on the sides of buses – - saying “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
I am a proponenet of ‘better marketing’. Marketing that is helpful. Not disruptive. Not noisy. Not irrelevant.
I have to wonder about this, not from any kind of religious position, but just from a ‘does this make any sense?’ position.
Who is their audience?
Does bus poster advertising reach this audience effectively?
What will their audience be compelled to do?
Audience
Let’s assume their audience isnt comprised of true believers, devout worshippers. These folks wouldnt be interested in the message.
And lets also assume the audience isnt made up of atheists, because these folks are already convinced, so the message is irrelevant.
So, it’s evidently folks who are more or less in doubt about the existence of God and actively pondering the question, looking for guidance on where to take their belief sets. How many of them are there?
Media
Do those doubting doubters have any kind of predisposition to read bus ads and be persuaded somehow? Are bus adverts the best way to reach this target audience?
Message
The message, then, tells us to stop worrying and start enjoying life, since God doesnt exist. Why are those two things necessarily connected? If God exists, does He/She want a flock of worriers? And, if God doesn’t exist, does that necessarily give us permission to not worry about life anyway? I know many agnostic worriers, and I know many worry-free Christians.
Conclusion
Personally, I think this is a flawed marketing campaign. Unclear audience, strange use of media, illogical message…. must be a group looking to stir up controversy!