Mosaic Church Enters Doritos Super Bowl Ad Contest

Posted on January 13, 2010
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(27) comments

According to the Christian Post: A Doritos chip commercial made by a Southern California megachurch is among the final top six contestants battling it out for a commercial spot during the Super Bowl.

Mosaic Church, with main campuses in the Los Angeles area, beat out more than 4,000 entries in the Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” contest to make the top six. The top three entries will be aired during the 2010 Super Bowl – Super Bowl XLIV – which will be played on Feb. 7.

“It’s a miracle and a divine comedy that we’ve made it this far,” says Erwin McManus, senior pastor of Mosaic and the producer of “Casket,” according to USA Today. “I think it’s God’s sense of humor.”

Mosaic’s 30-second commercial is called “Casket” and is about a man whose last wish is to be buried in “a giant casket with Doritos [chips].” The man, however, is only pretending to be dead and is shown enjoying Doritos chips in his coffin and watching a football game while his friends and family mourn during his funeral service.

You can read more here...

//I think this is very creative. Why not?

Comments

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Mark Fogarty on Wed, January 13, 2010

Todd… what you may not know is two of the other five final entries were done by a bunch of Christians as well (Underdog & Kids These Days).

Before knowing who did the videos I decided that “Kids These Days” was my favorite, with “Casket” and “Underdog” tied for second. I was very pleased when I discovered all were done by Christians.

Who says Christians can’t be creative and original?
Leonard on Wed, January 13, 2010

Too funny.
JOB on Wed, January 13, 2010

Do the people at Moosic know that their giving is being used to make TV commercials?
Peter Hamm on Wed, January 13, 2010

Job,

It’s a pretty “artistic” church, I’ll be that they do know, since they were probably asked to help make it successful.

And I doubt it was a big financial drain, since they already own a lot of that equipment and a lot of their video and dramatic work is done by volunteers.
Leonard on Wed, January 13, 2010

And isn’t is kind of a “jump to a conclusion” to assume that they used their tithes for this. There could have been any number of ways this was funded. Why so negative JOB?
CS on Wed, January 13, 2010

Leonard:

I believe that JOB’s position may be seen as negative because this doesn’t seem like something a church would normally be doing. It would appear that tithes and offerings are instead being given to commercial interests in lifting up the name of Doritos, on the surface, at least.

Here’s the question I have: how does this give glory to God and spread the Gospel?

—
CS
Jerry on Wed, January 13, 2010

Leonard
What glory did God get from Jesus eating and drinking with sinners
Leonard on Wed, January 13, 2010

CS, fair enough, I think the history of posting also shades the tone.

Your question is a great one, let me answer how I would use this in my church.

If my church were know for being artistic, creative and having many people in the entertainment industry, I might use this as a bridge. To say to those around the industry that being a Christian does not mean leaving your talent and creativity at the door. The good news is proclaimed, shared and communicated by word and in some contexts, relationships are a part of that communication.

As for bringing Glory to God? Excellence does that I hope.

It could help the Gospel if there is finance tied to winning. It would be in keeping with Mosaic to invest that kind of prize into Kingdom work.

At the end of the day, proclaiming the gospel, bringing glory to God is both a corporate and individual duty and takes a multitude of expressions.

My sister was extremely shy in her early years. It was not self image but rather shyness. She did not speak the Gospel boldly to all around but her life, her witness and her character opened the door for her to be a very effective evangelist. I am not shy at all, I do speak the gospel in many places and often see people respond in surrender and humility to Christ. Different gifts, wiring, temperaments and styles of ministry but the gospel was spoken in word and deed.

This, I believe, is how different projects at churches are. Not everything in my church is designed to proclaim the gospel, not everything in my church is designed to bring maturity in Christ.
Leonard on Wed, January 13, 2010

Hi Jerry, I am not sure your question? Can you elaborate?
Jerry on Wed, January 13, 2010

Jesus was being critized for being with sinners and eating and drinking with them by those ( you know who they are) Jesus entered their world in order to reach them. Jesus placed himself in places where the religous did not think He belonged His assocation with sinners and their activities caused other to acuse Him of wrong doing
Mark Fogarty on Wed, January 13, 2010

First off… other than those involved in the project, none of us can say where the money came from to do this video. My guess is it didn’t come out of Mosaic’s budget, but, for arguement sake let’s say it did.

Now, let’s say the cost of creating this video (not counting manhours, since it’s most likely done with volunteers) was $2,500… to build a ginormous casket, buy a bunch of doritos, and print an oversized photo of the “deceased”. The big cost here would be the casket, and if you had a woodworking friend with some materials lying around, plus a bit of cheap frabric, some paint and fake hardware… you could build this thing very cheaply… but once again, for argument sake, let’s say $2,500.

I can tell you that Mosaic has gotten waaaaaaay more than $2,500 worth of advertisement from that small investment (which probably didn’t come from their budget anyway). And advertisement that is hitting their target audience (which is not Christians with a narrow world/minsitry view).

This endeavor has been featured on Fox News and USA Today… and most likely many more to come. Do you know how much it would cost Mosaic if they were buying ad time to generate that much public awareness of their ministry’s name, let alone educating the public that they are a church that does things differently?

Since Mosaic’s ministry goal is to reach out and help broken people become what God meant for them to be, not coddle small-minded Christians, this type of project will probably help them in their ministry mandate, not hinder them.

How does that bring glory to God? Well… if one person visits Mosaic because of this notoriety, and gets saved as a result… then God will get a bit of glory. And I’m not even going to get into what an extra million dollars added to a progressive church’s budget might result in in terms of lives changed to the glory of God.

So as not to fall into the trap of “the ends justify the means”... the question is perhaps better asked… “Does this project disregard any scriptural principles”?

I’m not aware of anything biblical wrong they are doing here.
JOB on Wed, January 13, 2010

Mark,

The content of the video in itself doesn’t disregard and scriptural principles, It’s funny, not ROTF funny, but funny. If you respect the American Family Association you will have a problem. They’ve asked believers to not support PepsiCo. because ot their pro-homosexual agenda. This video openly promotes their product, I’m sure the AFA is having a cow. Nevertheless, I have an email into Mosaic, if they don’t respond I’ll call. I’ll post what they say here.
Mark Fogarty on Wed, January 13, 2010

JOB

I gotta be honest when I say I didn’t know a whole lot about the AFA… so I went to their website to learn a bit more.

I don’t want to say I don’t respect the AFA, but it certainly isn’t the flavour and emphasis of Christianity which I practise. I have never been one who sees a biblical mandate to boycott companies, products or goverment leaders because they have a different value system than mine. That just isn’t the teaching/example that Jesus, the apostles, and Paul left for me in the New Testament (imo).

When you start going down that road, where do you stop? Who sets up the standard for who you can buy goods and services from… an organization like the AFA, your own opinion, or what the Bible teaches.

How many degrees do we have to apply this boycott to? Can we boycott Pepsi, but watch a television show which includes a Pepsi ad? Can we go to a sporting event or restaurant where Pepsi is the featured soft drink? Can we associate with a person who drinks 7 Pepsi’s a day and wears Pepsi t-shirts… I mean, afterall, they are tacitly supporting a homosexual agenda? I’m so confused, because the further you go down that road the more it becomes a system of man-made do’s and don’ts.

So, a good Christian won’t buy or support Pepsi because of it’s unbiblical agenda/lifestyle… what about getting your internet service from a company that also sells bandwidth and hosting to pornographic sites… or what about using a car mechanic who “everybody” knows is having an affair on his wife… or what about buying clothing/footware from a company which uses sweatshops or an oppressed Chinese workforce? Aren’t you supporting sin and a sinful lifestyle in all these examples? And why should we expect the lost to exhibit a Christian set of values?

Do we only watch the evening news from tv channels which don’t portray unbiblical examples of sex on their shows? Which newspapers are we allowed to read, not based just on their articles, but based upon who they sell advertisements to?

Can we only get buy from Christians… no… correct that… can we only buy from Christians who are living Godly… no… correct that again… can we only buy from Christians who are living Godly according to our interpretation of the scriptures?

And I don’t even want to get into the whole “homosexual” thing. Because for many Christians it wouldn’t be as big a deal if Pepsi’s agenda involved some sin which Christians find acceptible and regularly practise… say gluttony… or greed. But that sin of homosexuality is the straw which breaks the camels back.

I just don’t have the stomach to walk down that road. Christians should be consistant in how they apply their rules and regulations… not picking and choosing based on their own opinions and lifestyle.

Finally… JOB, I’m curious… why did you contact Mosaic and what did you ask them?
JOB on Wed, January 13, 2010

Mark,

Alls I asked is how they funded the commercial.

I share many of your concerns when it comes to believers organizing bans and protests. However, this is quite different. Believers aren’t acting as consumers but a church is openly promoting a product of a company, not only that, there is evidence the company is working to disrupt the family unit. Sorry that’s not what the church is called to do. Let’s also consider the possibility that the commercial may follow a Bud commercial or a Go Daddy commercial. And let’s not forget the overall molecular structure of Doritos will actually put someone in a casket if they abuse them. (a point my critcis in this forum will have fun with) Does the church really want go there?

I’m not trying to make a big stink about this, the Mosaic people will need to sort it all out, I doubt these questions were even debated. i’m sure my opinion will be labeled as extreme and negative. As for me I wouldn’t have done it or support it. I understand the upside of exposure but I still wouldn’t do it or support it in anway. If my tithe money went to this project I would probably be nocking on a door, just saying.
Mark Fogarty on Wed, January 13, 2010

Even though your tithe didn’t go to this project (nor is there any evidence anybody’s tithe did) it seems to me you are “knocking on a door” anyway. What gives you the right as a non-member, non-giving entity to make these demands of Mosaic?

As for the rest of your comment (which didn’t answer any of my questions btw) I will have to decide whether continuing the discussion is the best use of my limited time and energy.

Right now I’ve got to go ref a basketball game where, no doubt the sponsoring soft drink displayed on the score-board will be Pepsi.

So… Pepsi pays this school for sponsorship… and the school pays me for reffing their basketball game… so it’s like I’m being partially paid by Pepsi… so it’s like I work for Pepsi… so it’s like I tacitly endorse their agenda to promote equal rights for homosexuals… so…