This weekend one of the broadcast engineers at Current sent an email out about a huge Christian youth pep ralley called Battle Cry happening across the street at the ball park. The fact that the two-day music and speech-fest sold out at $55 a ticket speaks volumes to the power of Christian teen marketing. But then again, I'm always amazed at the huge Catholic turnout at their Popefest events.

While I don't have a problem with Christian teen marketing in general, I think this organization and event are scary -- in the same way I think the Promise Keepers are scary. They are using the violent terminology of "The War on Terror" to voice their unhappiness with advertising and popular culture, and more importantly to convey a political agenda that targets gay marriage, abortion and other hot-button issues in the "culture war." There are plenty of critiques to level at the pornification of pop culture and marketing to teens, but framing a discussion that should be about media literacy as a war or battle seems incredibly divisive and polarizing. From the article:

"Military metaphors abound in Luce's descriptions of the struggle. He tells young people of how 'an enemy has launched a brutal attack on them.' At a pre-Battle Cry rally Friday afternoon on the steps of City Hall, Luce told his mostly teenage audience that 'terrorists of a different kind" -- advertisers -- were targeting them and that they were "caught in the middle of the battle.'

...Luce's approach has been praised by conservative leaders from the Rev. Jerry Falwell to Fox News commentator Sean Hannity. Much of the statistical backing for the horrors Luce sees on TV is provided by the Parents Television Council, which is funded by conservative foundations such as the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

...A Battle Cry invitation to teenagers made plain the symbolism of gathering in San Francisco for a pre-event rally at 'the very City Hall steps where several months ago, gay marriages were celebrated for all the world to see.'"

On top of it all, it seems like these events are also designed to help Ron Luce, the organizer promote his new Christian alternative to MySpace (and potentially make millions), which according to the Chronicle, will be launching soon.

Posted by anastasia