Why do you think the way you do? Could it be the way you were raised or maybe the the social circle that you hang out with? All of these are great possibilities, but one that gets frequently overlooked is that of the media. Everyday, we are inundated with thousands of advertisements from window cleaning products to shoes to clothes and so on. These advertisements take advantage of the human brain and our subconscious. Neurologically, the more we see of something, the more we relate to it. Although this process is not always a conscious one, the fact remains that the more we see immoral images (promiscuity) or gross representations of life (murder, death, etc) in advertisements, the more we tend to connect these images with a commonplace view of the world.
Many of these advertisements work to make consumers feel that they are never adequate by being themselves and must buy the products that are advertised to better fit into society. Well, I am here to say don’t believe them. Be yourself. Your mama might have always told you not to compare yourself to advertisements, but now, here is the time to hold onto your being. As we see less and less youth attending church today and more and more emphasis on the over-sexualization of women and to an increasing extent, men, we must consciously realize that this behaviour is not normal. Sounds simple, right?
Advertisements are everywhere and we pick them up all over the place (the store, the internet, magazines, and so on). We even see advertisements for clothing companies in which clothes almost don’t make an appearance (Abercrombie … cough … Hollister … etc). We shouldn’t blame individual advertising companies though because they are only trying to make a profit, but collectively a lot of the burden falls on them. As Christians, we should act with restraint and be more self-aware. For if we know what these ads are trying to do (subvert our morality), then we will be less likely to have their messages sink into our subconscious and this fight is half the battle. I don’t advocate for the changing of these ads in an ever-increasing secular world, but I do advocate for a Christian viewpoint on these ads, so that we aren’t drawn into immoral places where we don’t really belong. Over time, suggestive images can seed themselves into our brains and their effects can be magnified albeit not consciously. When we rely upon our gut instinct, we tend to base our decisions off our subconscious, which if tainted with these advertisements can lead us to make bad decisions or at least promiscuous ones at that in the heat of a moment.
Hopefully, someday this Christian empowered thinking will become mainstream and we will not value ourselves less or think ourselves as not worthy of society’s approval based on these advertisements. However, Christians must make the decision to consciously face the world and fight the flow of it. For what Christians do today will influence the decisions of advertisers tomorrow.