Mormon Media Blitz

The LDS church is having a unique moment in our country.  With two Mormon presidential candidates as well as the overwhelming success of the satirical and for the most part, irreverent Broadway play, "The Book of Mormon,"  it seems that people are talking about our faith.  I find it interesting however, that although people in the media are talking...very few are actually including the church in the conversation.

I have truly appreciated the church's response to all the media attention.  They are basically saying, "Great, if you would like to talk about us, we would be happy to tell you about ourselves."

"I am a Mormon" billboard in Times Square, New York.

In response to the NYC Broadway play, the church basically did a media blitz on the city.  A huge "I am a Mormon" billboard was placed right in the middle of Times Square.  "I am a Mormon" ads were seen on cabs and city buses and the short ads were broadcast on screens inside taxi cabs throughout the city.

Aside from the massive worldwide humanitarian efforts of our church, I'll be honest, the "I am a Mormon" campaign is one of the coolest endeavors I have seen the church take part in.  The short ads are inspiring and interesting.  The effort is clearly to clarify misconceptions about our church and its members.   

There are a lot of misunderstandings about our church.  Misconceptions that we are not Christian, or that we practice polygamy or that we are a secretive, brainwashed people.  These are all misconceptions.  The "I am a Mormon" ads depict that we are normal, Christian faith centered, family loving people who have found happiness in our faith. 

I feel that the current media effort of the church is simply to clear up the misunderstandings and basically provide an easy forum to start a dialogue.  Mostly, it gives members a chance to become part of a conversation that is already going on. This media effort and the mormon.org website will hopefully provide that forum to clear up some misconceptions about our faith...a place where questions can be answered...where misunderstandings can be clarified.

We found out that Denver is going to be included as one of the cities for this media blitz. It starts in October.  It will be interesting to be included in the conversation...