Recent press releases and brochures from Teen Mania promoting the
"BattleCry" campaign lump advertising together with MTV and "hard-core
porn" on a list of things that "threaten" teenagers. Why, then, have
three key people involved with Teen Mania's corporate management been
secular advertising and marketing experts?
Teen Mania's parody of America's media and
marketing landscape
From opening video of "Acquire the Fire"
2005-2006 season.
This
recent press release from Teen Mania, produced on their behalf by
the DeMoss Group, demonstrates something that's often seen in
evangelical media: the lumping together of very different things that
are together labeled evils or threats, in this case, to teens.
They've put "advertising to teens" at the top of a series of examples
of how, they allege, teens are "targeted" and "threatened by pop
culture." At least two of the three examples are supported by partisan
sources:
DALLAS, April 13, 2006 - Teenagers in America have never before
been so targeted and so threatened by pop culture as they are today.
Advertising to teens is an estimated $150 billion a year industry (PBS, 2000).
MTV (watched by 73% of boys, 78% of girls ages 12-19) airs (on average) 9 sexual scenes per hour and more than 8 un-bleeped profanities per hour (Parents Television Council, 2004).
80% of 15- to 17-year-olds have had multiple hard-core porn exposures (Family Safe Media).
If these alleged attackers are considered truly dangerous by Teen Mania's
leaders, it stands to reason that someone with a history of being
heavily involved with one of these alleged evils, and who was
unrepentant about their previous endeavors, would then be disqualified
for leadership positions with Teen Mania.
Advertising: part of the alleged "attack" on teens
Closeup of page from one of Teen Mania's recent brochures promoting the "BattleCry" campaign.
SourceThe insistence that teens are somehow under attack by advertisers
is continued in a brochure promoting the "BattleCry" campaign recently
distributed to youth pastors. It contains the remarkably open-ended
and broad generalization that advertisers are not merely an enemy, but
are attacking teens by somehow disregarding "moral decay." This
assumption, somehow shared by both the producers and intended readers
of this brochure, is never substantiated, and appears in a section of
this brochure entited "The Attack:"
CHECK OUT THE ADVERTISEMENTS
With more than $128 billion dollars in their pockets, this generation
has been targeted by corporate America who do everything they can to
grow their brands and their profits without any regard to the moral
decay of a generation.
From section entitled "01: The Attack" in "The
BattlePlan: BattleCry Campaign Classified Document" distributed before
Ron Luce's presentation at McLean Bible Church, Vienna, Virginia, May
6, 2006.
Keeping in mind that they've labeled the act of advertising, and
targeting the teen market, part of their justification for their "BattlePlan,"
let's look over this list of people who've held
important positions in Teen Mania - one of whom was important enough
to have been paid
a larger salary than that earned by Teen Mania's founder, Ron Luce.
One thing ties them all together -
they've all worked for one of the nation's biggest advertisers,
Procter & Gamble, in roles involving sales, advertising, marketing,
promotions and product management.
-
Teen Mania mocks deodorant marketing
From opening video of "Acquire the Fire"
2005-2006 season.
George Babbes, member of Teen Mania's Board of
Directors,1 was Group Product Manager
with Oral-B Laboratories, The Gillette Company, 1992-93, and Brand
Manager for Procter & Gamble, 1987-1992. In 1989 he was the winner
of Procter & Gamble's "Promotions That Work" international
competition.2 Babbes is a lifelong
friend of Ron Luce, and was quoted in a Regent Business Review
article saying that some of the strategic planning for Teen Mania in
its early years
occurred in "the 'war room' at P&G."3 Now a professor at Azuza
Pacific University's School of Business and Management, his doctoral
dissertation focused on, among other things, "the impact of conceptual
metaphors on consumers."4
Tom Muccio, member of Teen Mania's "President's Council,"5 "is the
recently retired President of Procter & Gamble's Global Customer
Teams. He was with Procter & Gamble for 35 years in a variety of
sales and marketing assignments in both the U.S. and abroad." 6
Rick Brenner, Teen Mania's Chief Operating Officer (2002-2004),7
"began his career in Market Research, followed by six years at Leo
Burnett Advertising where he managed accounts including Green Giant
and Procter & Gamble packaged soap brands. Following his tenure at Leo
Burnett, Mr. Brenner spent eight years at Procter & Gamble where he
was responsible for marketing and brand management for consumer
products including Clarion Cosmetics, Noxzema Skin Care Products, and
Secret and Sure Antiperspirants." He is now president of a Florida
startup company. 8
Teen Mania's parody of MTV
From opening video of "Acquire the Fire"
2005-2006 season.
So when you watch Teen Mania attack those who advertise and market
their products in the commercial/secular realm, keep one thing in
mind. They aren't really attacking the reality of advertising to
teenagers, since they themselves are marketers; many of Teen Mania's
leaders, and now their
hired
secular advertising agency, were or are in the business that includes
advertising to teenagers. They just want to influence and organize
teenagers - for what is, over the long term, a political and social
purpose - with their own set of advertised messages that frame
militarism and conflict as virtues.
Footnotes:
Teen Mania's Corporate Website - Board of Directors & President's Council
"Conceptual Metaphor in Consumer and Managerial
Decision Making." Doctoral dissertation, George S. Babbes, page vi
"The Theology and Practice of Strategic Planning," by Michael Zigarelli. Regent Business Review, Issue 13, September/October 2004, pp. 4.
Faculty Profile, George S. Babbes, Azuza Pacific University
Teen Mania's Corporate Website - Board of Directors & President's Council
Tom Muccio bio at "Maximum Impact"
Teen Mania's Form 990 (tax return) for year ending August 2004, via guidestar.org
Executive team bios, TyraTech
