{"id":6401,"date":"2015-11-23T16:37:27","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T21:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/shrinkingcamel\/?p=6401"},"modified":"2015-11-28T17:28:28","modified_gmt":"2015-11-28T22:28:28","slug":"the-evolution-of-christian-branding-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/shrinkingcamel\/2015\/11\/23\/the-evolution-of-christian-branding-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evolution of Christian Branding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

"fish-155911_640"<\/a><\/p>\n

Remember that fish-shaped thing, that cute little symbol that is supposed to be associated with Christianity? It is called the\u00a0Ichthys,<\/a>which is really an anagram made up of five Greek letters that\u00a0mean \u201cJesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.\u201d The Ichthys apparently dates back to the first and second century, when Christians had the misfortune of\u00a0being hunted down, tortured and killed by Roman rulers. These fish symbols were like a secret code, letting them know\u00a0when they were safe among other believers. Seeing that little fish painted onto a cave wall or scratched\u00a0in the dirt on the road said, \u201cHey! I\u2019m a Christian, too! I am not going to torture or kill you!\u201d Big sigh of relief.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to a somewhat more lax period in Christian history: America in the early 1970\u2019s. Some enterprising and observant young marketer\u00a0noticed that\u00a0Christians were now blossoming into a substantial and\u00a0attractive affinity-demographic group, one that was perhaps easily schnookered, too. Why not turn that ancient Ichthys into a branding gimmick for Christians? That way, they can identify themselves to each other, and to the whole world.\u00a0They\u2019ll love it!\u00a0Soon enough, that little fish started showing up everywhere: on apparel,\u00a0tote bags, key rings and\u00a0car bumpers. It said, \u201cHey! I\u2019m a Christian, and I\u2019m also cool!\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, a few years\u00a0later, some cynical evolutionists latched on to that fish idea. They\u00a0replaced the Greek lettering with \u201cDarwin\u201d and added feet to that little guy, morphing it into a lizard-looking creature that had just crawled up out of the primordial ocean. I would guess that those Darwinian fishes now outnumber the Christian fishes. I often see them on the bumpers of cars, beneath the Grateful Dead stickers, the little fish\u00a0feet glimmering in the sunlight. Passing by one of these on the freeway, it seems to be saying to me, \u201cHey! You\u2019re a Christian, and you\u2019re an idiot!\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the idea of Christian branding can backfire. I sometimes wonder if going to such great lengths to identify Christians with a brand has a net negative result \u2013 alienating people and creating an aura of exclusivity and superiority, rather than making people feel attracted to the Christian faith.<\/p>\n

InsideWork\u00a0<\/a>recently ran a post called \u201cThe Rise of Christian Business,\u201d\u00a0discussing this sometimes-awkward mash-up of\u00a0businesses \u201cgoing Christian.\u201d Featured in this post was a story from Salon magazine\u00a0entitled, \u201cVerily, I sell unto you\u00a0<\/a>\u201d\u00a0which\u00a0questioned whether labeling a business as Christian was a way of truly standing up for something, or just another gaudy marketing tactic.<\/p>\n

The truth is that a business is just a collection of products, services, people and numbers. A business can\u2019t be Christian any more than a dollar bill can, or your car, or your music can be. It\u2019s just a vehicle to do something else with.<\/p>\n

Now, a person with a soul, however, that\u2019s a different story.\u00a0 A human being can definitely be a Christian. And I respect any business leader who brings their faith to their workplace. But to advertise it with a little fish on\u00a0a keychain? Or\u00a0make\u00a0it part of\u00a0the business name?\u00a0I am not sure if that is being\u00a0bold, or just plain self-indulgent.<\/p>\n

Those early Christians probably didn\u2019t know much about marketing. But if they were around today, I\u2019d be curious what they would make of the strange journey of\u00a0that fish-sign, from secret code to questionable cultural icon. Would they think we were\u00a0savvy, or smarmy?<\/p>\n

Image by Pixabay<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember that fish-shaped thing, that cute little symbol that is supposed to be associated with Christianity? It is called the\u00a0Ichthys,which is really an anagram made up of five Greek letters that\u00a0mean \u201cJesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.\u201d The Ichthys apparently dates back to the first and second century, when Christians had the misfortune of\u00a0being hunted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1878,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[91,134,140,342,683],"class_list":["post-6401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-in-the-workplace","tag-branding-christianity","tag-christian-business","tag-christian-marketing","tag-ichthys","tag-the-darwin-fish"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Evolution of Christian Branding<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Remember that fish-shaped thing, that cute little symbol that is supposed to be associated with Christianity? 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