Worship Leader Magazine’s Bad Ad
So I hate to be all nit picky and stuff. But how in the world do you expect me to take a statement like…
Our desire at Worship Leader is to equip you with the best available resources emerging from the contemporary worship movement that endeavor to transform worshiping communities.
…when it is placed in an ad like this?
From page 64 of last month’s Worship Leader Magazine.
Is that a Pentium II?
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
or the CRT monitor that graces the background. The copy is a bit clunky too. There are too many phrases in there that are implied or unneeded. It should be simple:
“Worship Leader…equipping you with the resources to transform your worship community.”
Followed by a brief list of items they offer.
I won’t get into the graphic aspects of the add. If I had to guess, I’d say the whole thing is from a stock ad collection and they simply added the text.
Very retro.
At first I just looked at the picture and thought it was a joke.
Maybe they did fire the marketing director… in 1990, and just kept using the same advertisement.
speaking purely as a graphic designer…
YIKES.
Or maybe it’s a subtle comment on the state of worship at most churches…
I’m with Paul J.!!
I’m not a technogeek: more like technophobe. I analyze words before I analyze technology and graphic design. I would probably fire the whole marketing division. Actually, I’d probably shut down the magazine.
“contemporary worship movement”? Wow. Way to make something personal and reverent (and ancient) completely hip and modern.
“best available resources”? That would be the Holy Spirit? And that, unless the grace economy has changed, is FREE.
“resources…that endeavor to transform worshiping communities”? And I thought transformation happened from the inside out.
Silly me. “Trix” is for kids. Buy the propaganda and get a free toy!! And don’t forget that lovely sugar high…that pumps us up ’til the next fix.
I think ttm just doesn’t get it.
What a shame that you are so stuck in the dark ages. You are exactly what the graphics in that picture indicate. In fact pretty much the joke that is in Los’ post is continued on in your comments.
Yeah, before I read the post my eyes were drawn to the laptop. I agree with Paul and Rich.
Los, I know you’re surrounded by Macs, so I’ll let you in on a little secret…That’s the brand new laptop from Dell, they are just still that clunky!
While this ad may not fit all of your taste buds (and mine as well in this case) it did what it was supposed to do…get your attention. Now we all know what Worship Leader is about. If the ad was “cooler” our blogmaster would have passed over an ordinary ad and consequently would not have posted this article. We would have missed the blessed service of WL. Maybe we should start marketing like them! Get off their backs people.
Looks like my old Dell that I just rediscovered. Although it still runs DX Ball I doubt it has any future in transforming any worshiping communities.
You’re right, Bryan. I don’t get it. But thank God for technology! I mean if it were still the Dark Ages I couldn’t get a kick out of watching all the current players in the contemporary worship movement run from one new toy to the next. It’s entertaining for awhile. And then I light a candle and resume my chanting. ;^)
saw that ad and had the EXACT SAME THOUGHT! wow… I think that was my first laptop that I had to bug the lead pastor of my old church for months before he finally caved and let us get it. A TTF screen and rubber trackball – it was SICK!
I sent them an email asking if they needed a new graphic artist. They actually responded and said they were not.
I guess cheesy Christianity will continue.
ha ha ha…thats great…
and greg…your emailing them is even funnier
TTM chants. That’s way cooler than anything we’re doing.
I still think it’s a statement on the outdatedness of most worship in churches.
“please turn to page 211 of your hymnal…..”
Man, I don’t want to do this but I have to.
I laughed, hard, at the post. I got it. It was funny. A harmless but humorous mistake was made by a graphic designer and I laughed as someone who also makes mistakes and can laugh at myself. Accidental irony happens. Splits your pants when it does. It’s human to notice and, I think, to chuckle. Good stuff.
Then I read the comments here. Hey, I’m not anybody’s Daddy around these parts. No one asked me for my opinion and nobody should really care what mine is, but, here it comes.
The comments took things from humor to hateful, to calloused cold slander even.
To say a Magazine/ministry should shut down. To imply that what they do is what’s wrong with worship in most churches today. To imply that someone lacks talent. To imply that a group of Christians are of little worth to the work of God and the Church in America. To do all this because of ONE mistake that, truly, is funny but not colossal. To this is odd to me. It surprised me.
I’m not above it. I make generalizations all the time. I’m sure I’ve judged a book by one page, a person by one glance, the validity of a ministry by their billboard or website. I know I have. But when I do I’m forgetting that behind everything created is a creation of the Creator with a name, a family, a livelihood, a reputation, feelings, flaws, talents and a purpose. If I kept that in mind all the time I think I’d be far more careful what judgments I make about them based upon the small flaws or quirks in their work. And I don’t think I’d ever make those judgments publicly.
I know I’ll think twice before I do in the future.
ALl that said, Los can’t be responsible for what his readers say publicly – and blogs are public. His job is to be a good blogger and he’s one of the best. It’s his readers I’m ragging on in this comment and, at the same time, pointing a long boney finger at myself.
Chill out guys. It’s one mistake. In an ad. Has nothing to do with the potency or integrity of the entire publication, the people who work there, the state of the Christian Church in America or anything else that truly matters to Jesus.
I whole heartidly agree with Shaun. I just think we need to lay off. Sometimes in the midst of my joking, I see fireworks that explode in peoples thoughts. Let’s take the post for what it is. A joke with a hint of truth. That’s all.
Los
I apologize if my fireworks put the comfort and safety of others at risk. Glad you had those hoses at the ready. You may not believe it, but I appreciate humor too.
It’s just that from my own perspective, the evolving church is wrongly focused on the packaging to the detriment of the gift.
I know that dissent is not welcomed by the status quo; and I don’t want to crash your party. So, I’ll try to make sure that my little backyard bottlerockets don’t interfere with your dazzling display! (There is no sarcasm intended in that statement. I’m sure you are doing exactly what God has placed you there to do. And, even from a distance, it lights up the sky!)
I just hope that you will remember that fireworks, no matter who lights them, are inherently dangerous…
It’s times like these when I remember we have too much damn time on our hands. Like I did a couple of months ago when I sent WL an email tell them how I thought they should run their magazine. It’s page 8 of the May issue.
Ummmm……..
How ’bout those cubs?………
Sorry, Shaun.
Sorry, Los.
One harmless mistake happens again…
http://betterthanblank.org/?p=125
*disclaimer* I don’t really care – I just think its funny…