Unexpected ad controversy births new pride among UCC churches, members
By J. Bennett Guess, UCC News service
216-736-2177
Dec. 3, 2004
CLEVELAND -- The larger-than-anticipated roll-out of the United Church of Christ's national advertising campaign has sent the church's distribution staff into an order-taking frenzy, as UCC members and congregations are gobbling up every item they can find to proclaim their proud affiliation.
"I've been here 17 years and I have never experienced excitement like this," says Marie Tyson, the UCC's distribution services manager at the denomination's warehouse in Berea, Ohio - a suburb of Cleveland, where the 1.3-million-member church is headquartered. "No one here is upset by the extra work. Instead, the excitement is contagious. We're just to the point where we're laughing, because of the sheer number of 'still speaking' orders."
The distribution center's four telephone operators are taking dozens of orders each hour.
Before the campaign's launch on Dec. 1 - when a national controversy erupted when CBS and NBC refused to run the UCC's ad because they deemed it "too controversial" - the warehouse would expect to fill only 5 or 6 identity-related orders during a typical day, while about 100 or more orders for other church-related products also would be requested. In those quieter days, that translated into about $5,000 monthly in identity-related sales. But that's all changed.
Leading up to the launch, sales climbed abruptly to $116,000 in October and $121,000 in November. Yet, because of the explosion of attention in December, the church expects a record-shattering month of sales, Tyson says.
"Everyday, the first thing I do is place more orders [for merchandise] so we can keep these items on our shelves," Tyson says.
So what are people buying? "Oh my God, everything!" she says. "We've got everything, and everything is just flying off the shelves."
The denomination's inventory now includes a wide-range of identity-enhancing promotional items, including numerous styles of shirts, mugs, decals, lapel pins, buttons, stickers, balloons, ink pens, tote bags, leather binders, bandanas and baseball caps.
Name it, the warehouse just might have it. Case in point: For the church member who has everything, try "God is still speaking' tattoos.
Local churches, Tyson says, are especially scarfing up the campaign's evangelism-related tools, such as door hangars and postcards, as well as letterhead, envelopes, pew registration pads, yard signs, banners, graphics and media kits.
The distribution center handles a variety of UCC-related products, including hundreds of books published by The Pilgrim Press, a UCC-related printing company. But more than half of the center's 300-a-day orders are now related to the ad campaign.
"We're just coming in every day, saying, 'How is God going to speak today?'" Tyson says. "But we're enjoying it. Because we've never seen anything like it. Our churches are so excited, so proud."
Merchandise related to the UCC's "God is still speaking" campaign can be purchased by calling 800/537-3394. (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET) or online at the stillspeaking.com store.
