John 3:16 Product Placement
It turns up in odd places, but does anyone know what it means anymore?
Jan 9th, 2009 | By Skye Jethani | Category: Culture, FeaturesThis morning the most searched term on Google was “John 3:16.” A sudden worldwide interest in the Bible, Jesus, and God’s love perhaps? Not exactly. Last night’s college football championship game saw missionary kid/quarterback Tim Tebow with the biblical reference written on his eye black.
My colleague at Leadership Journal, Brian Lowery, has written a great piece about the story at Out of Ur. Here’s a bit:
Isn’t it awfully telling that people actually had to look up John 3:16 on Google to know what it says? Before you think I’m an idiot, let me be clear that I know America is biblically illiterate. But have we reached a new low? It used to be that you could bank on people knowing at least a few biblical texts, and John 3:16 was one of them. It has, after all, been broadcast at pretty much every professional game long before Tebow smeared it on his face-often on poster boards, and usually by a guy wearing a rainbow wig. People saw it and thought, Yeah, yeah, yeah. ‘For God so loved the world.’ I get it. Now, was that a first down? But last night a good part of America saw the text and thought, What the heck does that mean?
Brian’s post got me thinking about the rather odd places we see John 3:16 popping up. Of course there is RainbowMan–famous for his appearances as sporting events holding a John 3:16 posterboard. (Brian makes mention of him in the Out of Ur post.)
But there are other interesting, and odd, placements of John 3:16 in our culture. Friends in California probably know that In-n-Out Burger prints the verse on the bottom of their soft drink cups.
One I just learned about comes from the clothing store Forever 21. Their yellow shopping bags have John 3:16 printed on the bottom as well.
In both the case of In-n-Out Burger and Forever 21, the owners are Christians seeking to use their fast food and fast fashion to share the good news.
A few questions come to mind:
1. Does this sort of biblical “product placement” really inspire non-Christians to crack open a Bible and explore the teachings of Christ? Or is the subtle branding intended to make Christians feel better about shopping at Christian-owned businesses?
2. In a culture of ever-increasing Biblical ignorance, is printing “John 3:16″ meaningless? The fact that it was the most searched Google term today, as Lowery indicates, means most Americans may not have even know it was a reference from the Bible–let alone what it says.
3. Is the day coming, given our pluralistic society, when we will see “Koran 3:31″ under cups, shopping bags, and painted on the naked chests of overweight sports fans? Somehow I doubt it. Muslims generally revere their scriptures too much to trivialize them in such a manner. (BTW, if you don’t know what Koran 3:31 says, try Google.)
Popularity: 12% [?]
I would wonder if anyone who searched for John 3:16 had any sort of transformation or began to trust Jesus because of that guy. It seems like that wouldn’t be very common, although I wouldn’t want to say that it’s impossible. I suppose there’s not really any way to find out, though.
It seems like your question about Christians feeling better about shopping in Christian-owned businesses would be the main result (although not necessarily the main purpose) of “Christian product placement.” I can’t say that these instances always have that effect on me, but I do tend to think, “Oh, I guess the owner of this place is a Christian.”
Also, interestingly enough, this blog post is ranked 5th in a search for Koran 3:31, which may prove your third point.
I’ve known of you through Leadership but didn’t know you had a blog…glad to have found it and look forward to interaction as time goes on.
jazztheologian
If you ask me, seeing the words “John 3:16″ on a shopping bag or a rainbow-haired man’s chest will probably not get nonbelievers to all the sudden trust Jesus, but it may be an important, comforting thing to see for those who are searching. By that I mean, those who have grown up with faith kinda-sorta important to them, but not positive if they want to stick with Christianity, or those who might be open to having religion in their lives but arn’t sure where it fits in. Just seeing other believers subtly or not so subtly proclaim their faith in a public way makes it easier to people who are one foot in, one foot out, to explore their own faith.