Can't-See TV

[TexasStooge]

Church Recruiting New Members With TV Ad

By THOMAS J. SHEERAN, Associated Press Writer

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The United Church of Christ, whose membership has declined 23 percent in 15 years, has launched a national TV advertising program and reminded congregations to pay attention to the smaller details of recruiting members.

The ad campaign has a companion program to teach congregations how to make visitors feel welcome. That can be as simple as encouraging the use of name tags and posting restroom directions for newcomers.

At Shiloh UCC in York, Pa., which got 20 new members in recent months after test TV ads and its own evangelism program, newcomer enhancements will include a "parking lot ministry," with someone posted outside welcoming people and pointing out spaces, Rev. David Roe said.

The real test of a welcoming congregation is Sunday morning, not a TV ad, he said.

"You have to be very wary of any advertising," he said. "If would be false advertising if we don't live up to it, if we say we're a welcoming church."

The liberal-leaning UCC began the $1.7 million, 3 1/2-week advertising campaign on Wednesday. The 30-second ad shows a muscular bouncer working a rope line outside a handsome but nameless church, deciding who may enter.

"No, step aside, please," he says to two men holding hands.

Across the screen comes the message, "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we." The final scene shows two women embracing.

CBS and NBC rejected the ads, but they were accepted by ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery and TBS, among others. CBS said it won't accept advocacy ads and said ...unadulterated... relationships remain a subject of public debate.

NBC spokesman Alan Wurtzel said the network received two ads from the UCC, and accepted one. The other was rejected because it violated the company's policy of not accepting ads that deal with "issues of public controversy."

The goal of the campaign is to have 60 percent of the U.S. television-watching audience see the ad three or four times. The cost will be paid by UCC headquarters, individual gifts and loans and gifts from regional UCC conferences.

"We're doing it because we made a discovery: there are lots of people out there who don't know we exist," said Ron Buford, who is coordinating the program for the 1.3 million-member UCC, down from 1.7 million in 1989. The UCC has 6,000 congregations.

The UCC was founded in 1957 in the merger of the Congregational Christian and Evangelical and Reform churches.

Ellen Garbarino, assistant professor of marketing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said church advertising can increase public awareness and lead to sampling. Then it's up to the church to close the deal on a new member, she said.

But there can be a backlash, according to Garbarino, who said people expect ads on cars and candy, not necessarily churches.

Because of the UCC's liberal reputation, its money might be best spent on ads during "Dharma & Greg," which portrays less traditional relationships, than a reality-show audience that might not be open to the UCC message, Garbarino said.

___

United Church of Christ: http://www.ucc.org

UCC ad: http://www.stillspeaking.org



Anything that's underlined is mine

[GalvestonDuck]

Because of the UCC's liberal reputation, its money might be best spent on ads during "Dharma & Greg," which portrays less traditional relationships, than a reality-show audience that might not be open to the UCC message, Garbarino said.

*snicker* "Dharma & Greg???" Wasn't that show canceled years ago?

[GalvestonDuck]

Because of the UCC's liberal reputation, its money might be best spent on ads during "Dharma & Greg," which portrays less traditional relationships, than a reality-show audience that might not be open to the UCC message, Garbarino said.

*snicker* "Dharma & Greg???" Wasn't that show canceled years ago?

BTW, Stooge -- what's with unadulterated being underlined?