In the not-too-distant past, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proudly wore the “Mormon” moniker.
Starting in 2011, the Utah-based faith produced a global advertising campaign, with the slogan “I’m a Mormon.” It included hundreds of short video or photographic bios of individual members as a way to show outsiders that Latter-day Saints come in all shapes, sizes and colors — that they’re not so different; they’re your friends and neighbors.
After current church President Russell M. Nelson stepped into his role as “prophet, seer and revelator” in 2018, though, he mandated that the “Mormon” term be banned from general use by members, scholars, outsiders and media alike. He even had it removed from the faith’s world famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir, now known as The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.
In a recent By Common Consent blog post, Taylor Kerby described feeling nostalgic about the previous ad strategy. On this week’s show, he talks about what he liked about it, what it did for him and the church, what he misses about it, and how a similar campaign might prove helpful today.
Listen here:
