December 09, 2011
In Need
There is a TV ad for the Salvation Army that tugs at your heart with
images of folks who are weary and apparently without hope. The marketing aspect
of the commercial is to encourage donations to the Salvation Army for the
upcoming Holiday Season. I was with them on their plea until the final clip of
the ad in which there is a young African American man with corn rows sincerely
saying, ‘Thank you for your support’.
When I noticed a hefty looking ¼ inch gold necklace peeking out from under the
neckline of his tee-shirt the illusion of sympathy went right out the door. Whether
believers or not, it’s unlikely that this current generation would give up
their gold for another’s need. “All the
believers were together and had everything in common. Selling
their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” (Acts
2:44-45 NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----A message sent to a general audience must be very sanitary. People think according to their mental conditioning, and everyone’s conditioning is slightly unique. Although responses can be sorted into broader categories, yours is a completely reasonable one. “Why doesn’t the kid hock his bling for a bag of chow?” I suppose lies behind it. In a highly expensive ad to reach a massive audience, nothing is left to mistake; nothing is unintentional. Someone either broke this rule of advertising, or we miss their intended point. Nonetheless, simply from what you’ve stated there is an enormously important point handy for the making.
-----If the kid was wearing a gold chain he simply bought somewhere, I think a lot of people would respond like you did. However, if his mommy gave it to him on her death bed, then I doubt most people would demand that he hock it before they would help. Most people would probably give him what they had in excess of their necessities right up to, but probably not including, the gold chain their dying mommies’ gave to them. We just don’t know its value by simply seeing it peek out from under the T-shirt. So, to really assess the significance of the gold chain, you need to personally know the kid. And that is not a bad conclusion to draw from the ad, understanding that God wants us to know one another.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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