On Earth as It Is in Advertising?: Moving from Commercial Hype to Gospel Hope - Softcover

Van Eman, Sam

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1608994937 ISBN 13: 9781608994939

Publisher: Wipf and Stock, 2010

Synopsis

We know how slick and seductive pop-culture advertising can be. We know how pervasive it is across every medium. We might even know how it affects our buying habits. Yet we consume. Not all advertising is bad, but when it offers hollow answers to our deepest questions, it muddles self-worth, confuses need and want, and pushes neighbors out of the way. On Earth as It is in Advertising addresses these culture-shaping consequences. It reveals how advertising mimics the gospel message by wrongly defining human identity and promising to fulfill essential human needs. Then it inspires us toward health.

About this title

About the Author:

Sam Van Eman is a resource specialist for the CCO's Experiential Designs team, where he co-creates transformational experiences for college students, professionals, and organizations. He is the author of*Disruptive Discipleship: The Power of Breaking Routine to Kickstart Your Faith* (IVP) and *On Earth as It Is in Advertising?Moving from Commercial Hype to Gospel Hope* (reprint, Wipf and Stock).

As a public speaker and facilitator, Sam has taught (and played) in barns and boardrooms, canyons, classrooms, and auditoriums.His years on campus resulted in numerous Christian Service awards for his student leaders and a Greek Life brotherhood award named in his honor.

He has contributed to PRISM Magazine, the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, Christianity Today's Faith in the Workplace, and was highlighted in the decade's best at Catapult Magazine. He lives with his wife and daughters in central Pennsylvania.

From Publishers Weekly:

In a rather simplistic meditation on the negative effects of advertising, Van Eman overstates the obvious in a short book that could have been a pamphlet for incoming college students, the target audience. Van Eman addresses the insidious messages of advertising—which he calls the "SimGospel"—in a media-saturated culture, and contrasts them to the Gospel message. He focuses on three areas in which the SimGospel and the Gospel send conflicting messages: identity (who am I?), need (what are my needs?) and care (who is my neighbor?). Thus, commercials often present selfish oafs who care only about having their needs met (e.g., a man who "needs" a bigger lawn mower than his neighbor), or who feel they are nothing without the product being advertised. In contrast, the Gospel affirms that all people are children of a loving God who desires us to love our neighbors, not denigrate them. Van Eman closes with a list of several projects that he believes counteract the SimGospel, such as to give away an old car or to volunteer in a local soup kitchen. Van Eman's book has no startling features or arguments to distinguish it from the myriad offerings already out there on this topic. (Sept.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1608994937
• ISBN 13: 9781608994939
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192