Seriously. Sly and I talked about his upcoming movie. OK, so it was really just Sly doing the talking… and it was a conference call with who knows how many hundreds or thousands of other people on the line, but it was interesting never the less for several reasons.
Let me begin with some background:
Yesterday, out of the blue I got a marketing email from BuzzPlant (I’ve posted it online) inviting me as a so-called “leader in the faith and family community” to join Sylvester Stalone in a live conference call in which he will talk about his upcoming movie, Rocky Balboa. It was kind of odd because it was sent to a bogus email account I had set up years ago that forwards to my main email address. It must have gotten on somebody’s list that was purchased or rented by BuzzPlant. I have a great interest in new, innovative marketing ideas, so I figured what the heck, at the very least it will be educational. Plus the email promised some free promotional stuff.
The conference call was hosted by Paul Lauer, director of marketing for Motive Entertainment. They did marketing for the Passion and Narnia movies. Jud Wilhite, Senior Pastor of Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, moderated the conversation with Sylvester Stalone.
Sly talked about his motivation for doing the movie, a little about the parallels between the story and his own life, and about how the Rocky series has been a story of faith and overcoming your past. He talked a little about his own spiritual journey and wanting to have a spiritual message in this movie. It was interesting.
The obvious question, though, is: was this genuine?
Hollywood has done a 180 when it comes to Christian values in the movies. The movie studios used to scoff at Christians and Christian values and constantly push the envelope of decency. But with the tremendous success of The Passion of the Christ, Hollywood took notice. OK, so maybe it wasn’t a complete 180. It’s not as if the studio directors have all had a spiritual conversion experience and have stopped making trashy movies. But at least they are paying attention to Christian values and realize there is a large audience for values movies.
Where it gets real interesting is how this collides with the latest trends in marketing. Mass marketing is on decline. The days when you could reach the entire country by doing a TV blitz on the big 3 networks is over. Furthermore, people are increasingly skeptical of traditional advertising. So marketing is going old school. It’s going back to word of mouth. I could write a whole series of articles about this trend and maybe sometime I will, but for the time being if you’re interested you can check out the book Applebee’s America by Ron Fournier, Douglas B. Sosnik, and Matthew J. Dowd
Anyways, the strategy behind this new old way of marketing is to create a buzz by giving opinion makers a sneak peek and some free stuff in the hopes that they will tell their friends, family, co-workers, or blog audience 😉 about whatever it is they’re marketing. So, that’s what this conference call was all about – creating word of mouth buzz among Christians. They even created a whole website at RockyResources.com to further propell the social marketing of the movie.
The optimist in me would like to believe that Sly is genuine about his faith (he certainly sounded genuine on the phone) and the movie studios are genuinely trying to produce movies that support and uphold my Christian values. The skeptic in me wonders if Hollywood has gone from scoffing at Christians to using us for their own financial gain. Maybe it’s a little of both.
What do you think? Post a comment and share your thoughts.
28 Comments
So, I’ve heard that Sylvester Stallone is a Christian, that’s great. Who are we to judge if it is real or not. God knows the heart and that is what matters. The best thing we can do as Christians is to lift him up in prayer, to be strong in Jesus and be the witness that we are all called to be. God does not take lightly when we say we are followers of Christ…I pray that Sylvester grows in Him each day. If we took the time we spent on gossiping (which is a sin by the way) and spent jit on prayer for everyone then we’d accomplish more. I’ve found in my walk with the Lord, that people believe what they want to believe whether it is right or wrong this includes Chrisitans. Prayer is the answer, get you focus back on the Lord and not on man. Pray for Hollywood, though it all the unsaved may get right with Jesus and if you doubt Sylvesters’ conversion, then pray for him too. It is a heart issue – I’ll leave that up to the Lord. By the way, he see’s your heart and mine too, are our motives right….love ya in the Lord…Peace
First of all, God has clearly stated that He, and He alone truly knows the heart, so before we all go off the deep end casting doubts and stones at every celebrity that claims Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour, we need to check our own hearts first; by the word of God.
Secondly anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ, must be received as such until proven otherwise, “you will know them by their fruits”.
Thirdly and finally, we must not interpret a persons struggles in the faith as a lack thereof, or “bad fruit”, but rather instead of spewing out words of self righteous doubt and condemnation, we should be speaking words of prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord for those “in” the struggle.
“…but the greatest of these is love.”
IF YOU THINK, THAT SLY STONE IS NOT BEING GENUINE ABOUT HIS CONVERSION, SHHHH! KEEP IT REAL QUIET BECAUSE GOD MAY REALLY BE WORKING ON MR STALONE, AND IN THE MEANTIME SOMEONE ELSE IS HEARING THE NAME OF JESUS, THE ONLY NAME UNDER HEAVEN AND EARTH THAT A MAN CAN BE SAVED. DELL EDENFIELD JAX, FLA.
James 4:12 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
12There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
Ezekiel 34:17 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
17 ” ‘As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats.
Sly Stallone IS a Christian:
http://www.blackchristiannews.com/news/2012/10/sy…