Pentadic Criticism: Mormon Church TV Campaign

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has a campaign running to remove the negative stigma of the Mormon Faith. In this brief essay, I am going to explore how this campaign message pursues this purpose using pentadic criticism and how the motive helps to determine how the Church views the world.

Their current campaign puts a familiar neighborly face to Mormons. The messages focus on sharing brief life stories during a commercial slot and at the very end of the film they casually reveal that they are a Mormon.

This ad in particular tells the story of Joy, a professional Hawaiian long boarder. She tells the story of her life  in Hawaii and emphasizes the relationships within her family. She talks about the competition she won and the and the excitement that brought. During the last 20 seconds she relates long boarding to her place in the world and the need to have a firm direction. At the last moment, she says, "and I am a Mormon."

Below I have identified key terms and placed them in the pentad as either an act, agent, agency, scene, or purpose.

Act: Joy is a Mormon

Agent: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Agency: Joy, a Mormon, sharing her testimony through a commercial spot

Scene: Hawaii

Purpose: To make Mormonism appealing

After applying the ratios to one another, I have identified the dominant term as the Agent.

Joy is a Mormon because of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, she shares her testimony of growing up in Hawaii during a commercial spot because of them, and it is the church who drives the purpose.

By identifying the act as dominant I am able to get at the motives of the story and figure out what the film maker wants to say. The church chose a young and talented girl to represent them. Joy has role-model qualities and her story relates well to those with strong family bonds or a desire for it. Choosing Joy was strategic and I believe it was to help rid of the negative stigma given to the Mormon church. But, by removing the negative stigmas they are hoping to evangelize and bring people to a greater understanding to their beliefs  and to join their church.

This purpose reveals what they view about the world. The Church of the Latter-Day Saints believes that the world is a reachable place. They believe that the world needs a savior to save people from their sinful nature. But also, they believe that the world does not approve of them and lacks an understanding of the Mormon people.