It's Jubilee Day and I have a little something for you

Today is Jubilee Day™, "the largest, longest running one-day street fair in the eastern part of the United States." For a small town like ours, 60,000 attendees is nothing to sneeze at. 

The Old Testament Jubilee Day was nothing to sneeze at either. You can read about it in Leviticus 25 and imagine what restoring justice, correcting misfortunes, liberating servants and the like would have done for small towns 3500 years ago (and what this list would do for us today). 

I'm not sure cotton candy or a puppet show will provide anything in the way of justice for me and the kids this afternoon, but I'm sure it will bring a bit of jubilation. And I thought I could bring a bit of jubilation to you, too.

On Earth as It is in Advertising?
I don't have any special prizes or kick up your heels deals, but in honor of all things Jubilee maybe I can make you a little happier and a little more aware of injustice with a book offer. In 2005, Brazos Press published On Earth as It is in Advertising? Moving from Commercial Hype to Gospel Hope. It was reprinted this spring by Wipf & Stock.

I don't talk much about On Earth for a couple of reasons: 1) Self-promotion feels salesy to me, and 2) An early negative review took wind out of my sails.

Yet it's a book about injustice that every TV-watching, magazine-reading, banner ad-viewing, mall-visiting human being encounters: Bad advertising. Because I care about work and its relationship to neighbors, and because I care about the specific work of advertising being done well and right, I consider "SimGospel" advertising to be an injustice.

Critics and Endorsers
Read the original Publishers Weekly review that dropped my sails (and sales) and then read the very different endorsements on the back cover. If you're looking for a Summer read, pick up a copy. (The reprint on the right has a different cover but the content is the same).


8 comments:

Melissa,  June 17, 2010 at 10:21 PM  

Sam,

I'm happy you wrote your book...and so happy to hear it has been reprinted. There may be other books out there that discuss the same topic, but I hadn't read them. So your book helped me (hopefully) become a more aware and deliberate consumer. I will never forget your story at the beginning about seeing something through a new lens (the never realizing he needed new glasses story)...we just don't see the spin put on ads to make us feel we "need" something, or we'll be more "whole" if we buy it. I loved that you remind us all we NEED is God's love, and He is what will make us whole.

Bob Gorinski June 17, 2010 at 11:05 PM  

I love that you put both the good and bad reviews of your work.

I think a lot of commercials DO promote selfish oafs...blah blah blah.

I don't know much on this topic, but I do routinely see more of the same old..."convincing us to spend money we don't have to buy things we don't need to impress people we don't know."

Oh yeah, and a hot babe standing beside THE thing.

Anyway, who couldn't use a reminder on this?

Unknown June 17, 2010 at 11:26 PM  

Thanks for the encouragement, Melissa. I've really had a love/hate relationship with this thing, even though so much of my work - and very exciting work - has come from it.

Bob, how about a hot babe ON the thing? She looks a bit strange standing there ironing money, but she's there front and center. Is it okay if it's for irony's sake?

Bob Gorinski June 18, 2010 at 12:22 PM  

ha-yeah Sam.

To be clear, too, I was meaning to say that reading your work is, in the very least, a needed reminder of everything else we're up against as consumers.

Of course, I wasn't meaning that your book is "same old thing." In fact I'll probably try to check it out when I get some other reading things off my plate.

Unknown June 18, 2010 at 12:39 PM  

Actually, Bob, the bad review came out of that same thinking: "convincing us to spend money we don't have to buy things we don't need to impress people we don't know."

It's the nuances beneath this eye-rolling, I-already-know-this, conclusion that I spent my time on while writing. There have been various places where the audience did the eye-rolling at first but by the end said, "Hmm. Never thought of that," or "I didn't realize so much went into making ads."

Of course, many folks know enough that they don't feel the need to know any more. Probably another reason the book had only moderate sales. Those who dug deeper, however, like journal reviewers, had very thoughtful responses with a balance of positive and negative feedback.

Anonymous,  June 19, 2010 at 1:04 PM  

Hey Sam,I don't think you could EVER come across as "salesy!"

You should be proud of that book - do you have another one in you?

And I guess bad reviews come with the territory. Part of the thick-skinned thing we keep hearing about for writers. Sounds like you got plenty of good ones, too!

I will indeed be checking it out.

Unknown June 22, 2010 at 10:01 AM  

Brad, I have one that's most of the way out, but I put it on hold for a bit in order to work on my voice. In the meantime I've used its content in talks and have really enjoyed it.

Not sure it will ever see the light of day, but with so much of it done, it's hard to put it away entirely.

Thanks for asking.

Unknown July 18, 2010 at 6:32 AM  

hmm I'm agree with bob gorinski anyways, Nice post and I like your blog, keep it up :)) #1 resource for buying and selling Royalty-free photographs and vector images

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