Guest Post by ScoobyDrew0

Let me give a little introduction to this piece. Starting on Ash Wednesday through Palm sunday my church, and many other churchs in the same county did a fast. This fast was interestingly at the same time as lent. To which I asked, "Why don't we admit we're doing Lent?" I decided my church gave up honesty for Lent. To this Comment, My good friend Drew made this rant. Now granted he's lacking details of the whole thing, but it's still hilarious. So with out further introduction...



Let me start off with a little introduction of myself. My name is Drew, a marketing major at Slippery Rock University, and not the most religious person in the world. When I say not the most religious I was baptized as a Lutheran, raised as a Baptist, went to a non-denomination church in high school and haven’t been back at one except for wedding and funerals which has been for about 5 years).

So it has been brought to my attention that some churches in Trumbull
County, Ohio have decided to have a fast. Ok no big deal, it’s like God’s way of saying you all need to go on a diet. But wait, this fast is different than others. This fast you give up something for awhile, to be more specific you give it up for 40 days. Problem one, the dictionary defines a fast as “To eat very little or abstain from certain foods, especially as a religious discipline.” Other then little Tommy who might give up those worms he has been chowing down on during recess, I don’t see how this is a fast when you say “thing.” But let me go back on topic, so they have to give something up for 40 days. Sounds familiar…but can’t put my finger on it. So it starts from February 17, 2010 all the way to Palm Sunday. But Feb 17th was Ash Wednesday, the same day that lent starts and goes til Palm Sunday. So fast = lent is different religions.

Alright so put on your snuggie because its story time. So there are a group of rabbis sitting around a table talking about religious days. The topic of Hanukkah comes up, to which one says “I have an idea. What if we shortened Hanukkah to one day, but kept all the lights and presents to be opened on this day. And better yet all the festivities will happen on this one day” to which one rabbi replied “What day should we hold this on?” To which another rabbi said “December 25th!” Another rabbi looked confuses and asked “You just described Christmas didn’t you?” to which he received a nasty glare and said “If it was Christmas, we would call it Christmas but this is Hanukkah.”



This picture makes more sense then what is going on


So what am I trying to get at with that story, just because you change the name of something (especially if it’s the wrong name) it is still doing the same thing. Christianity to put it in a way is like the soda/pop industry. There are the Catholics, Baptists, Lutheran, ect… just like there is Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper. Everyone had the one they prefer, and we all have different tastes. I enjoy Coke (Baptist) and my fiancé enjoys Coke (Catholic). But the thing is that when you look at either religion or pop brands there is no point in competing. Yes I know Coke and Pepsi have ads but they aren’t to change opinions of people. But they never go to mimic each other to extremes.

So with churches trying to enforce lent…wait my bad “fasting” that happens to be 40 days that happens to start on Ash Wednesday that happens to end on Palm Sunday could be seen as two different things in the marketing world. The first part thing it just competition which…well is dumb because right now I don’t know who they are targeting by doing a fast. But anyway back on topic there is something called the product life cycle which looks like this.



This is what i was tough all through college


For a quick overview
Development = Product Design
Introduction = Product gains popularity
Growth = The Most gain, and some competition comes starts to emerge
Maturity = The peak of the product and time to do something new
Now in the growth phase the key thing is that competition starts to emerge and other products that are similar start to emerge. Well the thing about competitors is that they are trying to mimic a product, they feel that there is something that they can gain product share with. Granted I don’t know how many years lent has been around, but if you think it’s going to work right now to bring more attendance or as we call it “market share” to the other churches then wow. The other is called a market reposition where you take yourself out of what you do and completely change focus. The real definition is “involves changing the identity of a product, relative to the identity of competing products, in the collective minds of the target market.” So with market reposition I don’t know if the idea is to become the wal-mart value time Catholicism. Same great religion just not as much cost or repent AND YOU CAN EAT MEAT ON FRIDAY.
There is a reason why people believe in what they believe in. Some people think that the idea of lent is dumb. So if they decided that it is a bad idea then they won’t do it. Granted they don’t have to participate and the idea of what lent was supposed to be has been long gone. Originally whatever you gave up for lent you was to take that money and then donate it to a charity. How many Catholics practice this still, better yet how many people doing the fast will take part in this?
Ok so looking at it like that whenever any business wants to do this they roll it out in a small region or test market to see how it goes. So the real question is how will this go? If anyone can tell me what the purpose of this is by all means let me know. Because all this shows me is that this is a test to see how people will react to this idea and then implement it to other churches.
*Below is my theory of how this happened, if you might get offended then skip after the photo*
Because right now the only thing I can think is that a bunch of higher ups in churches did their grocery shopping last year on ash Wednesday and said “there are a lot of Catholics…what are they doing right and better yet how can we get them to convert. Wait they are all about this lent thing, what if we do lent but call it something different that they can relate to like fasting. And better yet we will become green and not burn anything and keep people clean because we won’t use ash!”



What happened when pastors and preachers did when they explained the idea...Guinness clanking and all

Well maybe I am looking at this all wrong. Sticking with the same metaphor with religion being beverages maybe Christianity is just Pepsi. I mean we could say Christianity is Pepsi, Coke is Muslim because that’s pretty big to, Judaism is Dr. Pepper, and even the little ones like Scientology could be Shasta because that both is a bunch of crap, and the church of the Jedi is like Jones Soda because no one knows what is going on there. But anyway there is Pepsi which is Catholicism, Diet Pepsi can be Baptist, Amp can be new age teen Christianity because they are so wild and spunky. So if it all comes down to where it is all the same God then why try to fight with each other if it all ends up in heaven somehow.



Christianity now in all sorts of flavors

The reason there is so much variety is because everyone has different beliefs and needs. In marketing when you introduce a new product you are once again trying to get market share from the competition. For example let’s look at the new age teen Christian, the ones that support KJ-52, East West, and Red. Well when you look at the 90’s and 2000’s there were a lot of things going on and the idea of sitting in church was not that thrilling. So a new wave of outreach went out to teens that helped bring in “generation X” back into the church. There is lots types of Christianity that appeals to all frames of life and just like Pepsi they make sure to hit the entire market. So why try to mix it up, if you think there is something that you can do to change the fundamental of the religion then come out with a new product.
As a final thought if you want to change something then don’t mimic a religion. While writing this I asked people what they gave up for lent. I kid you not it was sweets, chocolate, fries, or pop. Then I asked if you by chance were on a diet and they all said yes…thanks to lent it helps keep that new years resolution. Only thing left is Richard Simmons Sweating to the Psalms. A faith is what it is, if you don’t like it then chances are there are a flavor out there for you that fits.


Available Lent 2013!!!

Guest Post by ScoobyDrew0