Has anyone else been seeing a lot of "I am XYZ, and I am a Mormon" commercials?

[rgG]

I have been seeing these "I am so and so, and I am a Mormon" commercials everyday on TV. I can't help but wonder if they aren't trying to help MittMan out with his bid for the presidency by doing a little PR for Mormons.

[Grace62]

The LDS church is fighting a losing PR battle against some pretty unflattering stereotypes in popular culture. I don't think the "I am Mormon" campaign is about Mitt Romney. They are trying to push back against the hit TV shows and the Broadway plays, plus the Prop 8 campaign, all of which have influenced public opinion about Mormons.

Apparently they did a nationwide survey about attitudes towards Mormons and the LDS church and found out that a lot of Americans are both lacking information (i.e. thinking Mormons aren't Christians) and hold negative opinions towards Mormons.

Romney has been a national figure for a decade and doesn't exactly wear his religion on his sleeve.

[Black]

Grace62 wrote:
They are trying to push back against the hit TV shows and the Broadway plays, plus the Prop 8 campaign, all of which have influenced public opinion about Mormons.

I agree that it's got nothing to do with Romney, but I find the above kind of shaky.
Their mission is expansion. They put a huge chunk of their resources into it. They're not trying to influence public perceptions about Mormons, they're promoting Mormonism, plain and simple.

I have been finding an "and I am a Mormon" video at the top of the "related" list on Youtube for about 5 or 6 months and was wondering if I'd somehow been cookie-sniffed, as I've spent some time learning about Mormons this past year.

[rgG]

Well, it certainly wouldn't hurt their cause if a Mormon was elected President, would it?

[wave rider]

I have not seen the commercials on the left coast.

Mormons are content to surreptitiously pour money into social initiatives put forth by the "citizens" of California...

I have worked with and for Mormons, mostly when I lived in Arizona. I have some strong opinions...

=wr=

[Grace62]

Black wrote:


Their mission is expansion. They put a huge chunk of their resources into it. They're not trying to influence public perceptions about Mormons, they're promoting Mormonism, plain and simple.
.

Yes, they are trying to influence public perceptions - according to the LDS organization itself, that's the purpose of the campaign.

Of course they want recruits, as always, but this campaign evolved from a recognition that there are some serious misconceptions about Mormons out there... There are also come negative perceptions that are right on, and that Mormons might just as soon we not reflect on too much...

[Grace62]

rgG wrote:
Well, it certainly wouldn't hurt their cause if a Mormon was elected President, would it?

A lot of Americans would learn more about Mormonism, that's for sure. Whether it worked as a positive or negative for the church might depend on what type of Pres he turned out to be...I'm hoping we don't find out!

[Black]

Grace62 wrote:
There are also come negative perceptions that are right on . . .

[Grace62]

OK, I have lots of neighbors who are Mormons. Prior to moving to the West coast I knew approximately zero Mormons and even less about their faith. So it's been an experience. Morning meetings without caffeine involved aren't fun to me, so volunteering with Mormons requires some open-mindedness.
These are very nice people...well educated, health-conscious, highly civic-minded, ambitious, etc.
However....
I find the secrecy and exclusivity around their faith practices to be off-putting. I think requiring every young person to spend a year of their college-age time trying to recruit more Mormons is rotten. (and the kids I know have all ended up "recruiting" in some pretty nice places - like Paris or Miami Beach. Not exactly community service. ) My son had a little crush on a Mormon girl back in 4th grade and the mom called me to say there'd be none of that. I didn't even know what the heck she was talking about at first, but I'd hate to be growing up knowing my family would disapprove of any person I liked outside their faith, and that I could get "shunned" for marrying outside. (My son and this girl are still good friends - she's a student at BYU now. Her older sister graduated this spring and was promptly married to a fellow BYU student - both at age 21. )

The LDS stake in our neighborhood was destroyed by an arsonist last year. The police were hush-hush but we're pretty sure that a Mormon kid did the deed. They were given three possible designs for rebuilding by the powers that be in Utah, no deviation from that allowed. Extremely top-down organization - that's a turn-off to me.

The other thing that's really bugged me is their influence over scouting. Kind of long story and I won't get bogged down, but their money control of our local council causes us non-Mormon scouts some headaches and pretty major inconveniences, like never being able to have training events on Sundays.

I won't comment on the theology, I understand it only a little. I did read Jon Krakauer's book Under the Banner of Heaven - interesting stuff there.

[Uncle Wig]

And don't forget that the Mormons that Howard Hughes hired because they could keep a secret kept him doped up on insane amounts of drugs, and bled him dry financially.

Probably Mitt was on of them.....