Cadbury Right Or Wrong
Advertisements do more than try and sell you a product or service. They actually give you a glimpse into our culture and how we perceive the world and ourselves. When I got off the train yesterday, I noticed this poster for Cadbury Mini Bites. What do you think? (This is a photo taken with my phone. If I find a proper scan, I’ll replace it)
The poster features a man and a woman holding hands at the movies. The implication is that they are in some kind of romantic relationship. Let’s say boyfriend and girlfriend. On the girl’s right, another guy is feeding her a piece of chocolate. She’s leaning away from her boyfriend to partake in this delight. She’s cheating on her boyfriend for a piece of chocolate. The tagline? There’s no wrong way to eat them.
There are two issues with this poster. Firstly, it’s saying it’s okay to cheat. You can be unfaithful to your partner. It’s okay. Especially if it involves chocolate. Because chocolate is a much greater motivator than being faithful to your partner.
The bigger issue here, however, is that of right and wrong. Our society is losing the whole concept of what is right and what is wrong. There is increasingly no absolute concept of wrong. You can do what ever you like as long as you have a justifiable reason. And apparantly a justifiable reason for cheating is a small piece of chocolate.
What has our world come to? Once you get rid of God from society, you lose way more than a name. Our whole sense of morality comes from the one who made us. He knows what’s best for us. He knows how we are wired to live. He can step back and look at the big picture. When we reject God and his commands, we’re left to sort it out for ourselves. And quite frankly, we’re no good at it. We are absolutely hopeless. We try and rewrite morality and end up creating a greater mess than when we started. When we try and decide what’s right and wrong, we’ll always get it wrong. We need God.
When I see ads like this, I am both disturbed and pleased. I’m disturbed that this is the message that is out there. That this is how far we’ve wandered from God. And on the other hand I’m pleased. I’m pleased that society is getting to a point where it is honest about where it stands with God. The more obvious it becomes that we’ve moved away from God, the more direct we can be in our evangelistic conversations.
Pop Culture Christ 
Are you equally concerned about the billboard where the bloke is eating chocolate through a snorkel?
Relax, buddy. This advertisement works because the audience perceives that there IS in fact something wrong with what she is doing. The audience is intended to look at the billboard and think “that’s wrong”. The suggestion that the mini-bite provides justification is a joke anyway, and really it is that controversy that is supposed to make you remember the product. If people didn’t know right from wrong the ad would be meaningless.
You make good points Throopie. The main point I’m trying to get across is the changing moral attitude of society. How much of it is Wrong with a capital W and how much is it just a laugh? When it becomes just a laugh, have we wandered so far that we can’t go back? It’s about awareness. I definitely wouldn’t want to support any kind of ban on the product or anything like that. It’s a product I very much enjoy :)