My Part of the Conversation

So, Christmas is upon us.  And what does that mean?  Shopping.

Oh sure, there are much more important things about Christmas that we love and often get lost in the shuffle.  It’s often because stores are competing for your hard-earned money, and going to great lengths to get you to spend your dollars with them and not somewhere else.

I’ve always been interested in Psychology, which was my minor in college (read: 5 random classes in the same field).  I love trying to figure out the tactics and mind games that stores go through to get you to stay with them.  Since we are in the midst of a battle, we need to be aware of how we are being attacked.  For the next few posts, I’d like to look at some different strategies they use.
This is one of my favorites: Anchoring.

In this strategy, stores sell several similar items at different prices.  One model tends to be ridiculously expensive.  The retailers never expect to sell many of these- they are simply there to make you feel better about buying the less-expensive model.  Both could still be massively overpriced items you will never need, but the fact that you pay “less than you could have” makes something that much more attractive.

Similar to this is the method yogurt companies use to sell their product.  95% fat free!  Sounds like a bargain, right?  How many do you think they would sell claiming 5% fat?  Not many.

Last night, at a very small gathering of our mid-week Bible study, David said something I thought was very insightful.  He talked about how he likes Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday.  Granted, Black Friday is looming around the corner and every grocery store is competing for your bill, but in comparison to Christmas, it’s nothing.  It’s purely American, no one else celebrates it.  And it the meaning is very clear- gather with family and friends and give thanks for what you already have.

So while you all do that today, Happy Thanksgiving from Blaine, Kate, and Hudson.

Blaine Tucker

Hudson said his first prayer tonight.

Kate read him a story, turned out the light, kissed him, and I walked in the room to say goodnight.  I knelt down next to his bed like I always do, and started to pray.  But, before I could say anything, I heard Hudson whisper, “Goodnight, God”

I Couldn’t imagine a more beautiful prayer.

I found this interesting article today at www.cpyu.org, called “10 surprising things you need to know about today’s youth culture” by Walt Mueller.

1. Advertising is a powerful shaper of kids. The typical child sees between 3,500 and 5,000 advertisements a day, all of which are carefully constructed by marketers to create a continuous need for products by exploiting kids’ anxieties and aspirations. Because of where they’re at developmentally, young people’s lives brim with anxieties and aspirations, making them especially vulnerable to advertising. Marketing taps into their spiritual brokenness and exploits it by promising redemption, fulfillment, wholeness, and satisfaction through the purchase and use of products. In effect, marketing substitutes a false gospel for the true Gospel we’ve been called to communicate. But ads don’t only sell a product. Their greatest power lies in their ability to sell a worldview. They serve as a map for curious young hearts and minds that are looking for guidance that will shape their behavior.

I never thought of advertising offering us a worldview. It makes sense, actually. They need to convince us to buy something. In doing so, they need to show us how we NEED to have it. If we don’t really NEED to have it, they paint a picture in which we do.

Anyway, The Center for Parent Youth Understand website at www.cpyu.org often has some good articles on teen culture and adolescent issues related to spiritual development.