When we talk about Marketers the first things that come to our mind are the FMCG companies, the soft drink companies, the fast food companies & the consumer durable manufacturers of the world.
All these are great names in marketing – getting public to know about their products.
But above all these we have a SUPER MARKETER who has managed to reach every nook & corner of the world.
THE CHURCH is the world’s best marketer – with phenomenal results over the centuries. Ability to convert millions & millions of people across the world into Christianity is unmatched by any corporate either in history or present.
Well. now if you ask if they have been ethical, I will reply by asking – are the corporates ethical in their marketing? Even though the products are bad marketers promise the heaven & they try to sell the products by hook or by crook.
Same thing with the church, it converts people by forcing them, by bribing them, by possibly any method available – however unethical it may be.
Church has used all types of marketing – ambush marketing, viral marketing & now even mass market marketing (over TV). Surprisingly they seem to succeed in spite of the fact that their product (christianity religion) is in no way greater than other religions in the world, esp. when compared to the religions from the Sub-continent.
In India esp. in the southern states like Tamil Nadu Church uses all means to show case itself as “pure” & good religion and projects other religions as bad & abusive. It runs multiple TV Channels, conducts mass conversion programs, pay money to convert, forces students to attend masses and follow christian rules, force to convert to get admission or job, recruit only christian for the jobs, ensure no formal benefit reaches the deprived so that ‘this fact’ can be used to convert more, broadcast any misdeeds of other religions while suppressing gross misdeeds within the Church.
So how do they manage to succeed? Simple – public is a fool and believes things without rational thought.
Surprisingly unlike in the case of corporate marketing where people can see through the false marketing, in the case of Church they have managed to continue endlessly (some marketers have also…).
So when will the world awaken and stop this misdeed?
Probably other other aggressive religions like Islam is now taking over – ambush marketing & ‘force’ marketing seems to be their weapon.