Advertising What You Believe

My family is being inundated with marketing all day long.  So is yours.  Everywhere you go, things are being advertised.  People wear clothes with logos on them, or slogans printed on them, or even brand themselves.  Brand names are written on everything, from cars to clothes to...well, you get the picture.  The internet, television, the radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards.  I would love to know the average of how many advertisements a person sees every day, without even being aware of it.  It's probably mind boggling.  Some of the marketing is probably just branding, some of it is the marketing of ideas.  Some of these ideas are harmful to families, to value systems, or to a persons self esteem.  Our families are being taught things we may not necessarily agree with, or be very opposed to.  We all know we should be careful what we allow in the walls of our homes.  We screen content vigilantly, but stuff slips through.  Our boys may hear or see things that are disrespectful to women. They see violent images in the games they play. Our girls are exposed to images that make them dissatisfied with their  appearance.  The media glorifies celebrities, and makes wholesome family life seem old fashioned, out of date or plain wrong. 

We are careful in defending our families, and in protecting them.  We try to teach them by example, and in the lessons we teach in family home evening.  We fortify our family through prayer, scripture study, and attending our meetings.  We can also advertise what we believe.  Fill our home with good books, good music and good movies, so that our children can have a choice.  Something I've been doing lately is using our refrigerator door as a billboard.  Along with our big old family calendar, I have been posting inspirational pictures and quotes that help to remind our family what we hold dear.  It's started some conversations, and I can see them reading the quotes and staring at the Mormonads I've stuck on the door.  I figured this was a good place to start advertising, because I have five kids, and they're always hungry, so they see the fridge a lot during the day!  I'm trying to change things up regularily so they don't get bored, as well.  And, I'm sure, some of it is subliminal.  They walk by that fridge a whole lot......