Thread: Holy calling card

http://vivirlatino.com/2006/05/23/ho...can-priest.php

Holy calling card gets you blessed by Mexican priest
18:49 H | Topics: Marketing - Mexico - Religion

File this under: tacky marketing ploys. I'm usually not shocked by the sketchy marketing tactics that some companies use to promote their products to the Latino market. After all, I am in the business, so I've seen my share of lame campaigns, promotions, slogans, etc. But when I read about the Mexican Catholic Church getting kickbacks from a calling card company for use of the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe...I wanted to be amused but I just felt...ick.

The Catholic Church in Mexico is set to receive a cash bonanza from a U.S. company planning to sell prepaid phone cards with a printed image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's most revered religious symbol.

"We are not selling blessings, we are promoting benefactors," said Mexican Monsignor Diego Monroy Ponce, whose recorded voice will bless customers when they use the $3 and $5 cards to place long-distance or cell-phone calls.

Talk about cheapening one's supposedly deeply held beliefs. I'm no Catholic, but this makes me sick.

Beyond the standard "a symbol that is holy to a group of people shouldn't be monetized" (which is all too often is -- a trip to the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico will get you enough virgencita schwag to last you a lifetime -- and it's not free), what's most disgusting is that it's actually the church that's benefiting from the exploitation.

And if you look at strictly from a marketing ethics perspective, you are cashing in on the hopes/fears/needs of a population by offering a prayer from the Monsignor as a bonus to make sure that this card is the card of choice -- whether or not it's the best deal. You are cheapening their faith. The Monsignor is cheapening his words. And it's just another way to make money off of Latinos by targeting a soft spot. I think it's insulting.

"We are blessed with this product," said John Lennon, an executive at U.S. Starcom, which plans an initial distribution of 100,000 phone cards in June to Hispanic grocery stores in Canada and the United States.
Blessed indeed. The phone card industry already makes so much money off of Latinos. Was this really necessary?

Via / Hispanic Tips and AZStarNet

what's most disgusting is that it's actually the church that's benefiting from the exploitation.

ah yes...but certainly not surprising.

The Catholic Church in Mexico is set to receive a cash bonanza from a U.S. company planning to sell prepaid phone cards with a printed image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's most revered religious symbol.

Even the CATHOLIC CHURCH in Mexico is corrupt!

the catholic church is so screwed up I don't know where to start. if the catholic church feels that way then why isn't the pope printing up vatican passports for all of these illegals? they can all go live there.