Mainline Protestant denominations have started mass marketing advertising campaigns, and this article says they're proving successful. I generally object to such advertising (link and link), primarily because if you attract people with material that is by definition "watered down" (60-second commercials can't impart much substance), you'll have to water down the teachings and liturgy to keep them in the pews. That mainline Protestant denominations are having success with the ad campaigns doesn't hurt my argument at all because the mainline Protestants already have watered down teachings.
Excerpt from Washington Times article:
Mainline Protestant denominations, whose numbers have plummeted in recent decades, are resorting to catchy ad campaigns and creating a brand identity to establish themselves in the public consciousness.
So far, they have been successful. The 1.3-million-member United Church of Christ, America's most liberal Protestant denomination, saw the amount of yearly hits on its Web site (www.ucc.org) quintuple from 950,000 to 5 million after a 30-second TV ad last year that showed two muscular male bouncers blocking a church entrance.
"Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we," flashed a text across the screen. Reaction to the $1.5 million campaign so pleased denominational officials that the UCC plans to premiere a second edgy ad on a similar theme: The UCC includes people who might be denied entrance to most other churches.
These include interracial couples, homosexuals, prisoners, and parents with autistic children, said Ron Buford, who oversees the "God is Still Speaking" campaign that produced both ads.
"What we didn't expect were the people who said, 'I didn't believe God's grace was available to me. Now it is,'?" he said.
In 1972, the UCC was the first mainline denomination to ordain an openly homosexual pastor.
Link.
