Selling the Mormon church in 30 seconds

It's an extreme makeover, image-style. Fearing that they have been mistakenly stereotyped by the public, Mormons have launched an aggressive advertising campaign to prove that they are just like everybody else.

"We want to help people understand that we are not who they think we are," said Ron Wilson, the church official overseeing the campaign. "We're no different than you. In fact, we might be your next-door neighbor."

The Twin Cities area is one of nine markets nationwide chosen for the campaign, which includes radio, TV and Internet ads. The 30-second spots feature people talking about their passions (from surfing to skateboarding to racing bicycles), their jobs (nurse, composer, orthodontist) and their families (kids busy with soccer games and piano lessons). The ads end with the line: "And, I'm a Mormon."

Kathy Woolley, a member of the Bloomington Ward (Lutherans, think "church"; Catholics, think "parish"), is happy about the campaign.

"I think it's going to help change the perception of who Mormons are," she said. "A lot of people know Mormons, but don't know they are Mormons. When the Olympics were held in Utah [the winter of 2002], I read a report from a man who said, 'I've been in Utah a week and I haven't seen any Mormons yet.' I think a lot of people expect us to wear different clothes or something."

The general public's misconceptions have been documented by surveys. In a recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, respondents were asked to give a single-word description of Mormonism. Three of the top four responses were negative: "Bigamy" (No. 1), "cult" (No. 3) and "different" (No. 4). "Family" was No. 2.

Woolley isn't surprised by the harsh responses. When people read news reports about Warren Jeffs, who has been reported to have as many as 70 wives and allegedly arranged marriages between his adult male followers and teenage girls, they don't realize that he's the leader of a fundamentalist sect that broke away from the main church a century ago, when the Mormons started excommunicating members who practiced polygamy.

A different approach

The most common contact that non-Mormons have with the church involves earnest young men who look like itinerant investment bankers in their white shirts and black pants. They knock on the front door and we drag ourselves away from "American Idol" and "SportsCenter" in hopes of quickly shooing them on to the next house.

Marketing experts have determined that many people find this door-to-door tactic off-putting at best, irritating at worst. So, say hello to the "new" Mormon: bubbly, friendly, someone who loves to do the same things you do and, best of all, is willing to approach you on your terms.

"People are much easier to reach through TV and the Internet," said Wilson, who manages Mormon.org, a website that is at the heart of the image makeover.

More than two years in the making, the revamped website is different from top to bottom, starting with the name. Although the denomination officially remains the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the old Internet designation -- lds.org -- is a thing of the past.

The database can be searched by such categories as gender, age and ethnicity, criteria that church officials hope will highlight that the membership is more varied than people think.

There are few places where that diversity is better displayed than at Twin Cities First Ward, where an African-American minister leads a Spanish-speaking congregation.

"The church is much more diverse than what you see coming out of Utah," said Bishop (Lutherans, think "pastor"; Catholics, think "priest") Shawn Bryant, who became fluent in Spanish while on a two-year church mission in Panama. "This is an international church made up of people with multiple backgrounds. I love the ads because they showcase that, and they do it with real people, not actors."

Not all Mormons are sure that the ads are a good thing. Bill Kilpatrick, who lives in Florida, went online to post a response -- "I'm fat, ugly and getting crankier by the second. I'm about to take my wife to [the movie] 'Dinner for Schmucks' because she married one. Oh, and I'm a Mormon!" -- that dripped with sarcasm but was backed by genuine concerns.

"Mormons need to be careful that this ad idea doesn't create its own myths," he explained when contacted by the Star Tribune. "I truly believe that the lines that separate human beings are imaginary at best. ... Joining a church -- even this one -- won't endow you with virtue or wisdom or make you anything other than the complicated person you probably were to begin with."

"The Relief Society has existed for 150 years," Woolley said of the denomination's public-service arm. "We've always taken care of the poor. But again, this is something people don't know about us."