It’s true, I am very upset at a couple of Christian bloggers and their articles on evangelism, but not for reasons that you might think. Honestly, the articles themselves were theologically inline with my worldview and I saw no errors there. But as this article has demonstrated in the headline, it is utilizing Buzzfeed’s “get your attention” manipulation.
You know the headlines:
- This child fell in a dumpster and you’ll never guess what happened next.
- This child asks for only one gift from Santa and something wonderful happens.
- This elderly woman goes to buy her groceries and what happens can only be described as amazing.
They make an emotional promise, a ridiculous claim, and a sentence phrasing meant to sensationalize an otherwise boring topic. It’s over the top, it’s many times false advertising, and it nearly never delivers on the anticipation it hypes.
Its ethically shady and potentially morally wrong. The question is, should Christians utilize this kind of writing? There are good reasons to consider it, but I’m not sold.
One of my good Google+ and IRL friends, TC Johnson had some fairly important things to say to this topic which is where this not an absolute “no, don’t do Buzzfeed headlines”:
It all comes down to the motivation of the author: do they want to spread the gospel or get hits for their “brand”? Either way, if someone clicks, reads, and is saved as a result…. Then yeah, it was worth it…
Deceiving would be a headline that says they will present you with a solution yet when you read the article you only find a description of the problem.
Saying a cute puppy tries to walk on ice and you won’t believe what happens next and you’re unimpressed with the cat that comes to the puppy’s rescue is not lying.
There’s just no black and white here on if these headlines are fruit of the Devil and should the completely avoided by Christians. Every bit comes down to the heart of the author which we’ll probably never know.
Ultimately, I will say to churches that blog that they should avoid this type of marketing in their headlines. The line between attractive and manipulative is super thin. The stigma that comes with these types of posts does not need to be associated with your church. And the ability to let the content speak for itself should always be priority number one.
The best part of the Google+ discussion was when TC then made the death of Jesus into a Buzzfeed headline:
A man is executed by the state for offensive speech. What happens next will change the world.
[Buzzfeed image via Scott Beale via Compfight cc]
Eric J says
My Facebook friends eat that stuff up and share those articles like crazy :(.
Jeremy Smith says
Call me a bad friend, but I leave comments and tell them they are morons for writing those kind of articles and I disapprove.
Eric Dye says
How do you REALLY feel about it, Jeremy? 😛
Jeremy says
They know I’m abrasive, so it’s not out of character. 😉
Eric Dye says
True story.
Joanna says
My concern about using clickbait headings for Christian content is not primarily that they can be dishonest or deceptive (although that is certainly an issue) but what they do to your ability to express strongly things that are genuinely important. If you’ve used your boldest, most dramatic language on relatively trivial things, what do you have left to use for things that deserve emphasis? How are people meant to tell the difference if everything is a 10 out of 10 on the dramatic expression scale.
In a way, its kinda like the use of profanity. I have friends who use strong bad language in every other sentence. When they often use the F word to describe things like the slightly underwhelming sandwhich they had for lunch, it’s hard to take what might be genuine outpourings of heartfelt feelings seriously when those happen. On the other hand, when friends who are very mildly spoken use even a mild profanity, everyone pays attention.
Jeremy Smith says
Wow, that was beautifully said!
Rachel Blom says
Ow, I love that last line, the Buzzfeed headline about Jesus. It’s awesome!
Jeremy Smith says
Agreed