Relate– a new tween magazine
And a new tween mag Relate focuses on fashion, entertainment and faith. Below is the video that introduces the publication.
More interesting for our purposes is the video that appears under the tab for faith. While talking about girls and faith, notice the sponsor logos behind the speaker. Most interesting is Claire’s–a store that sells jewelry and makeup and all sorts of faddish things that get girls to focus on what they look like. This video is of an awards ceremony for girls who wrote essays about how they can be “true to themselves” in this day and age–particularly as it relates to purity. The best essays are rewarded with, you guessed it, gift cards. So much for separation of God and Mannon.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:08 am
So your critical comments are implying that girls that stay true to themselves cannot enjoy shopping? That in order to be true to oneself, a person must remove themselves completely from society and a normal life? That legalistic attitude is the exact thing that push people-especially teens-away from faith. People try to tell them they cannot behave like normal teens and enjoy some of the things in life that are in no way sins–like shopping and jewelry. All of the prizes given were the types of prizes that teens love and are a blessing to them. True2You is not about separating God from Mammon, it’s about recognizing girls who put forth amazing effort to be true to themselves and stand up for what they believe in. The girls loved their prizes and, guess what, are still staying true to themselves with them!
August 18th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Thank you for your comment.
You misunderstood the emphasis, however. It wasn’t the fact that girls shop that I take issue with so much as the merging of consumer companies (corporate logos and gift cards) with faith.
As my work attests, I have no problem with faith based organizations using marketing promote themselves. I do have issues when the lines become so blurred that there’s no separation between faith and the market, and for that matter in my newer work philanthropy and the market.
December 19th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Why does there need to be such a separation? Isn’t faith about who we are and how we live? It’s a piece of the fabric of our lives. Separation is not the goal, but merging faith into everyday living. Or were you just justifying your new work?
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:57 am
Mimi,
There are different philosophies when it comes to faith–one suggests that God, or whatever you would like to call that force, is part of everything; the other sees that the sacred and the secular are held in two separate spaces. I write about the blending of the sacred and the secular often, and I don’t always think that is a bad thing (though I lean toward keeping them separate). However, seeing corporate logos on an altar goes over the line for me.