"I'm a Mormon" Effort launches in New York City

[pam]

“I’m a Mormon” Effort Launches in New York City - LDS Newsroom

With increased conversations about Mormons taking place in New York City, the Church launched the “I’m a Mormon” campaign there this week.

''Our Church is known for our efforts to share our message,” said Elder Richard G. Hinckley, Executive Director of the Missionary Department. “During the past several decades we’ve used media focusing primarily on what we believe. This effort focuses more on who we are because of what we believe.”

[Suzie]

This proves that the Church has an amazing PR team behind their campaign, the timing in NYC is very smart.

[pam]

Totally agree. The timing could not be more perfect.

[Jason_J]

Awesome, I'm in NYC and look forward to seeing these ads around the city.

[Lilac]

I'm in the NYC area and we work in NYC.

Looking forward to seeing some positive ads!

[HoosierGuy]

Totally agree. The timing could not be more perfect.

Wouldn't the perfect timing be after the next presidential election so no one can accuse the church of trying to influence the next presidential election?

[Eltelepi]

I hear a lot of people say we shouldn't use the term "Mormon", but rather that we should use the full name of the church, or LDS. But I've also seen things like mormon.org, and this post. I'm confused. Are people in other places around the world instructed to avoid that too, or just where I live? :?

[Vort]

I hear a lot of people say we shouldn't use the term "Mormon", but rather that we should use the full name of the church, or LDS. But I've also seen things like mormon.org, and this post. I'm confused. Are people in other places around the world instructed to avoid that too, or just where I live? :?

The Church accepts the appelation "Mormon" as a historical reality. Indeed, it would be foolish to give up such a recognizable word or "brand", the kind of thing corporations spend literally billions of dollars trying to create. Looks like the Church is trying to leverage some of that.

But our leaders have consistently instructed us to refer to ourselves as "Latter-day Saints" and the Church as "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", as designated in revelation. Whatever the Church's PR efforts, it is our place to obey the requests of our leaders (and indeed of the Lord) in how we refer to Christ's Church and to ourselves as members of the kingdom.

[Lilac]

I think it depends where you live.

If you live in a place with few LDS, if you don't say "mormon" no one has a clue what religion you are.

I use the terms together when speaking so people have a reference of what religion I'm talking about.

[bytebear]

I read an article recently in the Deseret News and it talked a lot about the use of the term "Mormon" and the biggest issue has to do with the internet. No one does a Google search for LDS or Latter-day Saint. They search for Mormon Church, so the church has to use the term Mormon to get search results. Of course the term Mormon Church is wrong, but even church sponsored articles will use it (along with the full name of the church). I don't care if the term Mormon is used as long as they clarify the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (and use that full name) and if speaking of splinter groups, to distinguish the difference. I do get fully annoyed when I see the "Church of the Latter Day Saints" Urgh, I just want to slap the author.

[JudoMinja]

I've noticed that this effort is also popping up more online. I was on youtube recently and saw some "And I'm a Mormon" videos coming up at the top of video searches, even if they weren't related to the video I was looking for.

[Lilac]

Hey!

I was in Manhattan today and saw the yellow taxis with the "I'm a Mormon" campaign on them. It looked sharp! :)

The other taxis also had the Book of Mormon musical advertisements on them so it was kinda wacky seeing the various cabs driving around.