I’m a gadget nerd whose Verizon contract is almost up so I’m shopping for my next phone. Here’s an ad from HTC.
Tim Keller quotes Tom Shippey in Counterfeit Gods as calling Sauron’s ring in The Lord of the Rings “a psychic amplifier”. They take our heart’s good desires and amplify them to idolatrous proportions (pg. xv)
In this one minute piece HTC promises that its newest phone will amplify the passion and the poignancy. It reminds me of an obviously effective Kodak commercial in the 70s that used a Paul Anka’s song encouraging people to take Kodak pictures to remember “the times of your life”.
These pieces don’t just amplify, they shape. Through the artistry of the presentation they invite “you” (through the ever-present assistance of their product of course ) into another level of life. The product invites us all into an aspirational “you” that is younger, cooler, better looking, has more friends, is clearly living an upgraded narrative at a hipper urban address.
I find marketers to be some of the most insightful cultural exegetes. As a pastor part of me is in awe of their skills. The commercial doesn’t so much draw me to their phone, but draws me to their craft. I want to have this power to deeply hook people by their aspirational narratives so that they will embrace what I am offering. For me, that skill is the power of the ring.
“The ring is treacherous” as Frodo warns Gollum. It is ironic that the one who kept the ring a short time needed to school one who had it for centuries. There is a lesson there. What the ring amplifies is a skewed “you” and we crave amplification usually at the expense of a more realistic, clearer, less airbrushed “you”.
Jesus comes and tells us that the only safe amplification comes after personal mortification and is uniquely God’s work. He then goes on to model it as Philippians 2:5-11 points out.
I don’t think buying a smartphone presents a moral hazard to most of us. Even a shiny new HTC Android phone is a weak idol that soon simply becomes a personal appliance we’re likely to curse, ignore, sit on or drop in the water. The really smart marketers, however, if we listen to them at an angle, might school us on the idols we hold in our minds more than the ones we hold in our pockets.
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Comments (6)
That being said, I’d get the iphone. Every communication company is trying to knock Apple off its pedestal and I don’t think its going to happen any time soon. I’ve owned many phones and the iphone is the first phone that I have felt completely comfortable with. The large screen, the wonderfully intuitive interface encourages exploration. The HTC is still only first generation. I’d wait on it.
As our culture, and the people therein, grow increasingly self-centered (i.e. "lovers of self") the more vapid and empty it, and the people therein, become. Ironically, the world's cure for the emptiness, is yet more selfishness.
You say that you "want this power to deeply hook people". And you are right to refer this "power" as the Ring that will "rule them all, and in the darkness bind them." Any pastor can repackage the gospel so that it appeals to mankind's selfishness. Many do. Jesus is hawked much the same way this HTC phone is... you, You, YOU.
The apostle Paul was very clear about how Christ should be presented. He reminded the people of Corinth, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ...that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." (1 Corinthians 2:2-5)
As a true servant of God and a proclaimer of the Good News, you have the comfort of knowing that the power to draw people to Christ is not yours to carry. It is the His. And He is quite capable or wielding it without being corrupted.
True, it's frustrating when He doesn't draw people as quickly or efficiently as Satan does. It's tempting to resort to tactics that could be labeled as "the wisdom of men." This frustration is exacerbated by the fact that "Christ and Him crucified" is such a hard sell. To the Jew it's a stumbling block and to the Greek it is the sign of an unsophisticated mind (no matter how much gourmet coffee you drink, or how much American Apparel you wear).
Cheesy, sexy commercials are, well, cheesy and don’t work as well as clever, funny spots. Advertiser’s don’t understand that. This spot is a hipper slice of life campaign (slice of life is a mild pejorative). It says nothing unique or distinctive about the phone. The commercial will be forgotten tomorrow. There is no memorable concept here. What it does have going for it is great casting, great editing, and an expensive, high quality of film making. These are not adverting agency functions, they are all things that an ad agency can buy...and you can pay a million dollars for the best production teams which can make any idea look good. In a sense it’s similar to the movie business. Year after year its demonstrated that the highest box office pictures are G rated, well made family fare. G and PG. Yet studios keep churning out poorly made, poorly written and acted R and NC17 rated film
You are right, “The commercial doesn’t so much draw me to their phone, but draws me to their craft.” And its the craft of the expensive film production crew and director you are admiring. But this phone will not sell on the strength of its TV commercial. Whereas macintosh computers will.
I second the first commenter about the droid though.
@rick, the HTC is not first gen. There are plenty of HTC touch screen phones out there.
The track can be heard here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
I wonder if that irony was lost on the company that signed off on it. I also wonder if it's the creators' way of sneakily raising the same questions you are.
On a different note, as someone who has thus far intentionally abstained from getting a cellphone, I'm not convinced that this isn't a moral hazard for many. Smartphones influence how time (and money!) is spent, how people are interacted with, and how removed from the moment people allow themselves to be. All of those decisions wrapped up in something trivial that will be cursed, ignored, sat on and dropped, is in itself a rather sad commentary.