Commercializing serious ideas

In an article by Dr. E.J. Park, a former Wheaton communications professor, he says, "[T]he logic of commercialism must take a backseat to the logic of revelation. We must ask, 'How should serious ideas and realities be revealed?'"

Serious ideas have high value. This means that associating a serious idea with a product is an easy way to increase the perceived value of that product. Freedom, for example, is a serious idea often associated with the marketing of automobiles. People in car ads appear freed from socio-economic insecurities, and even from traffic-law constraints. This appearance may increase the perceived value of the car, but at what expense to the serious idea of freedom? Trivialization seems to be an unfortunate by-product.

Of course, association does not always result in trivialization. For example, there is a natural, good connection between the serious idea of health and a product such as orange juice. There is a natural, good connection between the serious idea of "place" and purchasing a house. Orange juice ads promoting health, and home-ownership ads promoting "place" do not trivialize either of these serious ideas.

As Park says, "[T]he logic of commercialism must take a backseat to the logic of revelation." This is a call to consider how ideas and products affect each other before the products go to market.