Acton Institute PowerBlog - Entries tagged as advertising

Beginning this month in Christianity Today, Acton is introducing a new advertising campaign that asks readers to look at the economic implications of policy questions put forward by religious leaders. The first ad looks at the top down planning, command-and-control orientation of many humanitarian aid programs and opens with this:

In developing countries, two million children die each year from common diarrhea. Even though a 10¢ dose of oral rehydration therapy can cure it. The remedy is cheap and effective — so why can’t we get it to those poor people?

According to the Religious Left, rich countries just don’t care enough about the poor. Their solution? Government policies that advance a more ‘just distribution’ of wealth. But, will more money get that lifesaving stuff to the mother in Ghana watching her child die?

A special Impact page has been introduced on the Acton site with a deep set of resources for those who want to learn more about faith and policy questions. You can go there to download a copy of the new ad, and access an archive of the previous ads.

The campaign will also include an advertisement for Acton’s new documentary The Birth of Freedom.

The new campaign is being produced by the award-winning team that has partnered with Acton since our first issue advertising rolled out more than two years ago: Copywriter Catherine Snow of Creatif Boutique and Rick Devon and the talented crew at the Grey Matter Group, all of Grand Rapids.

Well, not exactly. Althought Archbishop John Foley, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications—and a “self-proclaimed ‘chocoholic’”—did address a gathering of Nestle executives on the subject of the morality of advertising. Given that a conscientious parent can hardly watch even a daytime sporting event on TV with his children in light of the low moral quality of advertising, I’d say it’s a subject worthy of attention.

A couple of Foley’s statements:

It frankly surprises me that as women rightly fight for equality of treatment in politics and in business, they are still so often exploited in the media in general and in advertising in particular as objects, as sex symbols. Such exploitation has now apparently been extended to men as well.

But whatever product or service you advertise and no matter how you do it, I would hope you would keep in mind our ultimate purpose in life and make of all of your advertising, messages that are true, worthy of the dignity of the human person and helpful to the common good.

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Entries tagged as advertising

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