Bible pajamas
I don't know. I just don't know what to think about stuff like this. I work with college students and grown-ups, not grade-schoolers, so maybe I'm out of touch and missing something and I shouldn't be so hard on this kind of "Christian" marketing (The PJs come in a slightly different girls' version, too).
Or maybe it really is tacky and hokey and unnecessary, and I'm being too soft.
Somebody help.
Thanks, Andrea, for the link.
12 comments:
Wow. I've never seen something like that. But my son has Batman pajamas, Iron Man pajamas, and Thomas the Train pajamas. Dressing up as a knight (is that supposed to be a Templar?) to go to bed would probably be right up his alley, though I don't think either of us would know what to do with that shield.
Ummm ... yeah ...
Apparently, people will market absolutely everything.
I don't suppose that this is really BAD, but I really don't see the usefulness of this in any way. If it makes you feel better to buy Underoos with a spiritual-sounding name, fine.
Tacky. Hokey. AND unnecessary. But funny nonetheless.
I know you're being cautious lately because of that whole Finding Nemo thing.
But this is just bad. Besides, I think its better to be sincere and then express humble repentance than to say things different from what you really mean...
Billy, there's a first time for everything.
Wickle, thanks for tuning in. I never had Underoos. I think I wanted them, but can't remember why I never got any. (I still want footy pajamas.)
Lore, I read M.joshua's comment here and do wonder if he's right about the Finding Nemo thing (If you're interested, check out the comments of this post, and my response here.) Caution did cross my mind, but maybe it's because the PJs intro page says the idea came from a mom reading the Ephesians' passage to her kids and wanting them to grasp it. Is that so bad?
I wouldn't buy them for my own kids, but....
Josh, good challenge to me. Straighten me out if I'm going too soft.
I guess it's sort of ok as long as we attribute no redeeming value to the "knight of God" pajamas. :-)
It's just the mindset of creating a "christianized" version of everything that bothers me. It begs the question - why? what are we trying to accomplish besides trying to hawk more stuff to a targeted group.
There's just no accounting for taste.
My family prefers to wear pirate jammies while reading Harry Potter.
I'm with ESI on this one. Christianized products are derivative culture. Not helpful because ultimately it is not creative.
Vs. something like the fish on cars. I'm not big fan of those, but at least they are an original idea. The Darwin fish is the derivative.
Also, my favorite part of the site is the super trippy billowing clouds.
ESI, "trying to hawk more stuff to a targeted group" resonates with me. We see so much of this already that there's a bad taste in our mouths.
Marcus, I guess we could play a little game called, "Who can come up with the longest list of derivative products?" A derivative of that would be, "Who can come up with the strangest list of derivative products?"
I'll start. How about St. Peter fishing tackle? Or Noah's Ark beach towel (Oh, wait, someone already came up with that one. The description says it's an "inspirational gift." Inspirational? Hey kid, you just remember what that towel means, cuz if you keep misbehaving, the ocean might reach up here on the beach and swallow you, just like it did in Noah's day.)
Can you say, "Jesus, Inc.!"
This post and comments around the Finding Nemo post have me thinking about culture making (as recently encouraged by Andy Crouch).
I feel like there are two main possible motivations for such products:
1) The product is a copy (knock-off) for the purpose of making money - This could be just plain practicing our culture.
2) The product is an attempt to redeem some aspect of culture, as in 'they did this movie with a weak message and we want to do it with God's strong truths.' - culture redeeming?
The third, more attractive motivation that seems lacking is 'culture making' products.
So I guess I am just curious as to where culture making fits into the conversation?
My observation, and frustration, is in that most 'Christian' products might start out as an attempt to redeem culture, but end up copying culture, and stunt the possibilities of coming up with something new, original, better- more God glorifying, that can impact culture in a profound way.
thoughts?
Matt wrote:
"most 'Christian' products might start out as an attempt to redeem culture, but end up copying culture, and stunt the possibilities of coming up with something new, original, better- more God glorifying, that can impact culture in a profound way"
I see this, Matt, and I'm glad for your comment. It seems that Christians often approach culture like we're putting out fires, which means someone else is ahead of us lighting them.
Maybe it will always be that way simply because fires represent some kind of deviation from a moral path. But it would be nice to see us leading the way, making and influencing culture.
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