Christianity Sells and the Advertiser's Toolbox.

217 Pages·2017·6.74 MB·English

by  Catherine Lang

Christianity Sells and the Advertiser’s Toolbox.
The work of Christian Cultural Markers in television advertisements.

A thesis
submitted in fulfilment
of the requirements for the degree
of
Doctor of Philosophy
at
Auckland University of Technology.

By
MELISSA LEONIE GOULD

2017
“Adverts are stories about who we are, what we do, and what we value”

(Turner, 2004, p. 179)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents i
List of Figures iv
List of Tables v
Attestation of Authorship vi
Acknowledgements vii
Dedication viii
Abstract ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.0 Introduction 2
1.1 Repackaging Christian Cultural Markers: An Exemplar 3
1.2 Positioning the Research 5
New Zealand/Aotearoa: cultural and religious context 6
On defining the sacred, secular, religion and spirituality 11
Television and commercial speech in New Zealand/Aotearoa 14
Summary 21
1.3 Theoretical and Practical Underpinnings 21
Theoretical underpinnings 22
Practical underpinnings 25
1.4 Thesis Overview 26
Research questions 26
Some essential terminology 27
Thesis structure 28
1.5 Conclusion 29

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 30
2.0 Introduction 31
2.1 Media and Religion 31
The sacred and the secular as separate entities 32
The sacred and the secular challenging the dichotomy 35
Summary 40
2.2 Television and Christianity 41
Television as a tool for Christian communication 41
Christianity as a communication tool for non-religious television 43
Summary 46
2.3 Advertising and Christianity 46
Advertising as a tool for Christian communication 47
Christianity as a communication tool for non-religious advertising 48
Religion and the market 53
Summary 54
2.4 Conclusion 54
What is known and unknown about the field 54
Contribution to new knowledge 56
Summary 56

i
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 58
3.0 Introduction 59
3.1 Focus and Overview of the Research 59
Overview of the research 59
Research questions 60
3.2 The Work of Advertisements: An Exemplar 61
3.3 Situating the Research 63
Positioning the research and researcher epistemologically 63
3.4 Research Design: Methods and Analyses 66
Method 1: Content analysis 66
Method 2: Textual analysis 69
Method 3: Thematic analysis 70
Methods: Summary 72
Analysis 74
Data collection 74
Analysis of data: Essential terms 76
Analysis of data: Coding 80
Analysis of data: Thematic representations 80
Analysis of data: Thematic functions 83
3.5 Validity and Reliability 84
Notion of rigour 85
3.6 Summary 86

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS 87
4.0 Introduction 88
4.1 Christian Cultural Markers 88
4.1.1 Presence 88
Type of text 81
Religious affiliation of client company 93
Summary 96
4.1.2 Thematic Representations 96
Theme A: Activity 96
Theme B: Concept 104
Theme C: Language 108
Theme D: Organisation 110
Theme: E: People 112
Theme: F: Places 116
Theme G: Symbols 119
4.1.3 Thematic Functions 123
Function one: Cultural markers 123
Function two: Calendar markers 125
Function three: Tool for consumption 125
Function four: Brand influencer 126
4.2 Religious (Non-Christian) Cultural Markers 127
4.2.1 Presence 127
Type of text 127
Summary 128
4.2.2 Thematic Representations 128
Theme A: Activity 128
Theme B: Concept 130
Theme C: Language 131
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Theme: E: People 132
Theme: F: Places 133
Theme G: Symbols 134
4.2.3 Thematic Functions 135
Function one: Cultural markers 135
Function two: Calendar markers 136
Function three: Tool for consumption 136
Function four: Brand influencer 136
4.3 Spiritual Cultural Markers 137
4.3.1 Presence 137
Type of text 137
Summary 138
4.3.2 Thematic Representations 139
Theme A: Activity 139
Theme B: Concept 139
Theme: E: People 141
Theme: F: Places 142
4.3.3 Thematic Functions 143
Function one: Cultural markers 143
Function three: Tool for consumption 143
Function four: Brand influencer 144
4.4 Secular Cultural Markers 145
4.4.1 Presence 145
Type of text 145
Summary 147
4.4.2 Thematic Representations 147
Theme B: Concept 147
Theme: E: People 148
4.3.3 Thematic Functions 149
Function one: Cultural markers 149
Function three: Tool for consumption 149
Function four: Brand influencer 149
4.5 Conclusion 150

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION 151
5.0 Introduction 152
5.1 Research Questions 152
5.1.1 Research question one 152
5.1.2 Research question two 155
5.1.3 Research question three 157
5.1.4 Research question four 160
5.2 Theoretical and Practical Insights 163
5.2.1 Theoretical insights and their implications 163
5.2.2 Practical insights and their implications 169
5.3 The Study in Context 171
5.4 Implications for Further Research 172
5.5 Concluding Statement 173

REFERENCES 176
GLOSSARY OF ESSENTIAL TERMS 185
APPENDICES 186
iii
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Esche Brand Streetwear Company ‘Religion is Garbage’ 4
Figure 1.2 Self-Identified Religious Affiliations of New Zealanders 10
Figure 1.3 South Park ‘Bloody Mary’ 18
Figure 1.4 Pineapple Lumps TVC 20
Figure 1.5 Benetton "Kissing-Nun" billboard advertisement, 1996 23

Figure 3.1 Chanel No 5 Print Advertisement 62
Figure 3.2 Research Methods and Cultural Context 73
Figure 3.3 Ownership of television channels in New Zealand in 2012 75

Figure 4.1 CCM: Resene 90
Figure 4.2 CCM: Hell Pizza 90
Figure 4.3 CCM: Boardwalk Empire 91
Figure 4.4 CCM: Crush 91
Figure 4.5 CCM: American Idol 92
Figure 4.6 CCM: The Middle 92
Figure 4.7 CCM: Quaker 94
Figure 4.8 CCM: Televised movies with religious content 95
Figure 4.9 CCM: Televised seasonal specials 95
Figure 4.10 CCM: Activity: Calendar dates TVC 97
Figure 4.11 CCM: Activity: Experiencing a religious festival 97
Figure 4.12 CCM: Activity: Wedding 98
Figure 4.13 CCM: Activity: Calendar dates promos 99
Figure 4.14 CCM: Activity: The Man Who Sued God 100
Figure 4.15 CCM: Activity: Bruce Almighty 100
Figure 4.16 CCM: Activity: The Auckland City Mission 101
Figure 4.17 CCM: Activity: Catholic Enquiry Centre 101
Figure 4.18 CCM: Activity: Christian festivals 102
Figure 4.19 CCM: Activity: The Hour of Power 102
Figure 4.20 CCM: Activity: Bad Santa 103
Figure 4.21 CCM: Activity: 2 Broke Girls 103
Figure 4.22 CCM: Concept: Temptation 104
Figure 4.23 CCM: Concept: Judgement Day 105
Figure 4.24 CCM: Concept: Good versus Evil 106
Figure 4.25 CCM: Concept: Mission 107
Figure 4.26 CCM: Concept: Good versus Evil 108
Figure 4.27 CCM: Language 109
Figure 4.28 CCM: People, clothing 113
Figure 4.29 CCM: People, angels 113
Figure 4.30 CCM: People, devil 114
Figure 4.31 CCM: People: Quaker’s ‘Larry’ 114
Figure 4.32 CCM: People: Pastor Bobby Schuller 115
Figure 4.33 CCM: People: God 115
Figure 4.34 CCM: Place: Heaven 117
Figure 4.35 CCM: Symbol: Revelation 120
Figure 4.36 CCM: Symbol: Cross 121
iv
Figure 4.37 RncCM: Ferrero Rocher 127
Figure 4.38 RncCM: 1 Cover Insurance 129
Figure 4.39 RncCM: Ferrero Rocher v4 130
Figure 4.40 RncCM: People 134
Figure 4.41 RncCM: Symbols: Clothing 135
Figure 4.42 SpCM: Safer Journeys 138
Figure 4.43 SpCM: Friskies v3 138
Figure 4.44 SpCM: Concept: Energy 140
Figure 4.45 SpCM: Concept: Prime Season Promo 141
Figure 4.46 SecCM: Mercedes Benz 146
Figure 4.47 SecCM: The Big Bang Theory 146

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Thematic Analysis Process 71

Table 3.2 Thematic Representation Exemplar 81

Table 3.3 Thematic Functions Exemplar 84

v
ATTESTATION OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by
another person (except where explicitly defined in the acknowledgements), nor
material which to a substantial extent has been submitted for the award of any other
degree or diploma of a university or other institution of higher learning

Melissa Gould

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge my supervisor Dr Rosser Johnson. Your
insights, patience, encouragement and enthusiasm have been invaluable. Thank
you for guiding me through this process, settling my nerves when I felt
overwhelmed, and for letting my babies sit in on supervision meetings.

I am particularly grateful to Cession Community. Thank you for openly sharing
your faith with me. Thank you for teaching me the power of community and the
importance of authenticity.

To my family, and my partner’s family, thank you for your love. Thank you for
knowing when to ask how the thesis is going, and for knowing when not to ask. To
my uncle and aunty, thank you for your generosity, for your hospitality and your
academic expertise. Thank you for helping me realise my potential.

Nick, your unconditional love cannot be matched. Thank you, for everything. The
pride you have in telling people that your girlfriend is doing a PhD has kept me
going.

I am most thankful to my children Madison and Declan. They may not know what
it is like to have a mother who doesn’t has school work to do every night, but I hope
that one day they will read this and they will be proud of their mum.

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for Madison and Declan

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