I think corporations like Wal-Mart and politicians like John Edwards believe that the majority of us are stupid.
Yesterday I was pulling out of the Lowe's parking lot on my way home from what turned out to be an adventure in buying a trash can when I heard a commercial on the radio from Wal-Mart. The commercial was all about their support of The Salvation Army. The C.E.O. was gushing about how welcome The Salvation Army was in front of their stores and even talked about their campaign this year called "Bells Ringing Across America" (or something like that) during which they got store employees involved in ringing the bells out at the kettles.
Time for a flashback. Think back to last Christmas. Target, Wal-Mart's fiercest competitor, banned The Salvation Army from soliciting donations in front of their stores. There was a big outcry as people demonized the Target retail chain. Now I don't know about you, but as I listened to the Wal-Mart C.E.O. on the radio yesterday, I knew in my gut that Wal-Mart's campaign this year wasn't really about blessing The Salvation Army and everyone who is touched by their ministry. Let's be real. After personally spending 10 years working for Wal-Mart with much of that time in management, I can tell you with confidence that this was nothing more than their way of furthering the demonization of their competitor and wooing the more charitable-minded among us to spend our money with them instead of Target.
After arriving home with my new trash can I settled into my recliner to watch the evening news. One of the reports was that former senator John Edwards announced his candidacy for the presidential election in '08. You'll never guess where he made the announcement. He was clad in work clothes, hands clumsily donned with oversized work gloves, and appeared to be working hard at mustering up an artificial sweat in the disaster zone of Katrina-stricken New Orleans. As I watched the brilliantly staged photo-op I couldn't help but wonder silently how long he had been working at the site before the media arrived and how long he stayed after the cameras ceased rolling.
Do corporations and politicians really believe that we are so stupid to actually believe that their transparent portrayals are truly genuine? Well...now that I think about the success of Wal-Mart and the character of people we seem to keep electing into public offices, perhaps we are indeed just that stupid.
Contemporary praise and worship songs played by an elderly lady on an organ.
The girl at the drive-through window hands you your drink with the contents dripping all down the side of the cup.
The pastor finishes his finely crafted sermon, complete with three main points and three subpoints for each main point (three of course represents the Trinity) and he concludes the service with an invitation to salvation which he prefaces by saying, "With every head bowed and every eye closed..."
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