Those gutsy fellows at XXXchurch.com have filmed a public service announcement with porn director James DiGiorgio. The commercial features “Pete the Porno Puppet” encouraging parents to keep their kids away from pornography.
It’s an odd pairing, drawing flack from all sides, but it’s pretty cool. Pastors Craig Gross and Mike Foster of XXXchurch are prompting discussion about something no one wants to talk about, but so many people need help with. More power to them.
The thing I don’t like about this commercial is the message: “Don’t keep porn at home so your kids can’t find it…” but no mention that porn is bad. All bad. No good. Ever.
The implied message is porn is OK if kids don’t see it… but that’s simply not true.
I love the dialogue it’s starting, but diluting the truth justs makes everything murkier.
At what cost does this ‘relevancy’ come? At the cost of the truth?
No, I don’t think they’re sending that message. I mean, if you expect them to encapsulate their entire message, without simplification, into a 30-second commercial, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
They’re simply trying to get the message out that porn can be a very serious thing, but it’s also a very real thing, and we need to be aware of it and not treat it nonchalantly. If you go to their website you’ll see that they don’t believe it’s OK for anyone, ever, to use porn. They’re not trying to make anyone feel OK about porn. They’re just unable to fit their whole message into one commercial. But they do give the URL, and they do say enough to make people want to go check out the website. And then the website contains all the facts and all the help for everyone.
Seems like a good plan to me.
I find it very interesting they had a porn director do the commercial. That’s so perfect to stir up news.
I know that the message of XXXchurch is solid, and they are fighting the good fight, I just wonder at the logic here. Sure it sparks discussion, but this commercial doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. It’s a step in the right direction, but is it too small a step?