How do we fight toxic messaging in the Church? I ask this, because it’s big!

Your Reach is Unlimited! – Let’s Rock!

Do you remember when cigarettes where big? Do you remember when it was cool to smoke? Do you remember the billboards? The beautiful women on the billboards and the good-looking guy with the pack of cigarettes. Remember the Marlboro Man? The implication was, if you smoked and were cool like the Marlboro Man riding his horse, your life would be wonderful and filled with beautiful women at the beach. That was the messaging. There seemed to be no end in sight to this toxic habit.

UNTIL? Cancer became bigger than the Marlboro Man.

My favorite Magazine of all time is what I called Marlboro Magazine. It was actually called Unlimited, but who knew? Phillip Morris previously had a magazine for years, called Phillip Morris Magazine. Its focus was aimed at smokers’ rights. Unlimited was a marketing tool focused on men. The Marlboro Man and his rugged horse life was a primary campaign tool used in the magazine along with articles to appeal to men’s interests. Sense of adventure and masculinity was the focus. By the time Unlimited Magazine had come out, I had quit smoking. However, the magazine was free if you smoked Marlboro products. All you had to do was send them a receipt and a box top once a year and the magazine showed up in your mailbox. I had friends who smoked, so that was an easy task. The magazine had very little to do with smoking. Of course, the advertising within the magazine was quite heavy with Marlboro advertising. The magazine started in 1996 and lost traction and ended in 2005.

Recently, I was able to tour the Flagship Phillip Morris Ultria plant in Richmond VA. At one time, Phillip Morris had 5 cigarette manufacturing facilities in the United States just to supply the US market. Now, the entire US market for Marlboro cigarette brands is supplied from just 1 plant and 3 (down from 5) manufacturing lines.

The public is winning the war on the use of tobacco products.

Now we have vaping. It’s the new wolf in sheep’s clothes. The wolf hasn’t gone away. It just looks different now. However, there is enough information out there that awareness outweighs the ignorance.

AND THAT’S WHAT WE HAVE TO DO!
AND WE ARE ALREADY DOING IT!

EVERYWHERE

How we will win this battle? Just like they did with cigarettes.

Health Care
• Direct patient intervention
• Tailored counseling
• Pharmacology
• Ongoing Support and Follow Up

Population level Intervention
• Mass Media Campaigns
• Counter Marketing
• Policy Changes – Government
• Integrating tobacco dependence into health care systems (This is how Alcoholics started receiving treatment in the 1940’s.)
• Community Mobilization

Addressing Health Disparities
• Targeting Outreach
• Culturally appropriate messaging

Toxic messaging in our churches is like cancer. It is a silent chronic issue that has been present since the beginning of time. Satan started it with his trickery with Adam and Eve. Many know about it. Many have trouble identifying it. Secular culture creeps into Christian atmospheres unchecked. People are afraid to call it out because, well?… they might be questioning God.

What if we as Christians knew better?
What if we as Christians were not afraid to call it out?
What if we as Christians were confident in the truth and could snuff out toxic messaging before it ever took grasp in the Church?

It’s happening.
People are learning.
People are seeing the light.
People are calling it out.
People are educating others.

PEOPLE ARE SPREADING THE WORD

Your reach is Unlimited.
You can reach the broken.
You can reach the oppressed.
You can stomp out the toxic messaging of the toxic influencers.
You can reach ALL.

Your Reach is Unlimited – Let’s Rock!