Author: Jonathan Blundell

I'm a husband, father of three, blogger, podcaster, author and media geek who is hoping to live a simple life and follow The Way.

marketing to kids

Some great thoughts/information from the latest Nick and Josh podcast…

When TV was deregulated in 1984 – educational programming was no longer required – and “program length commercials were allowed.”
So shows like Care Bears were created not for educational purposes but to sell Care Bear products.

In 1988 a total of $100 million dollars was spent on advertising towards children.
In 1998 it increased to $2 billion.
In 2007 it jumped to $17 billion.

What should our response be?

re: My Life Canon

Last week I shared my Life Canon…
I’d like to add the following (which I recently added to the sidebar of my blog)…

I’m not sure what you’d call this, but I adapted it from something Brian McLaren wrote in Everything Must Change. It started as a challenge for our community group and its become more of a personal challenge to me each day – especially with it posted on my cubicle wall.

imagine if suddenly:
rather than seeking revenge, you sought reconciliation
rather than repaying violence with violence, you sought creative transforming nonviolent alternatives
rather than focusing on external conformity to moral codes, you were internally transformed by love
rather than loving insiders and hating outsiders, you welcomed outsiders into a new “us” and “we”
rather than anxiety about money or security or pleasure, you trusted ourselves to the care of God
rather than living for wealth, you lived for God who loves all people, including our enemies
rather than hating our enemies and competitors, you loved them and did unto them not as they have done unto you – or before they do unto you – but as you wish they would do for you

So what is your Life Canon? I tag: Thomas, Laurie, Brandi, Dollye, Eric, Brian, Smiley and Kevin.
(here are the rules)

McDonaldization, Wal-Martization and Fundamentalism

I think I was able to read two paragraphs this morning while listening to the encounter band practice before church this morning.
Two paragraphs but both quite powerful.
I really enjoy how some of the recent writers I’ve been reading from take “modern day terms” we’re familiar with and put them into context with the Gospel. For instance, rather than an Insurgency in Iraq (meaning a sudden increase in the number of soldiers) these writers would suggest an Insurgency of Love. They challenge me to think of the “third way” that I believe Jesus often told us to live by.

So here’s what grabbed me this morning, in between the band playing Praise you In This Storm and Now My Lifesong Sings…

The fact is, all religions of the world are under threat– from fundamentalist Islam, but more, from the McDonaldization and Wal-Martization of the world, from global consumerism, from forces that emanate not from Arabia or Afghanistan, but from New York and Hollywood– forces that make all religions equally superflous, trivial compared to the lust for a new car or a new pair of jeans.

Granted, as I told Laurie, I Twittered about this paragraph on my brand new Blackberry.

How hard it is…