We have
carried Bible message-bearing candy elsewhere on this site. (See the Bible
gum.) Here we feature both sides of a promotional postcard marketing Manna
MintsŪ, a product offered for sale since 1982. These Christian marketing materials are a
reminder of how much Christian product placement and marketing is shaped by the
marketplace around it. Manna MintsŪ has volume discounts, a web site for more
information, and is concerned to give consumers choices from chocolate, to fruit buttons,
to sugar-free sweets. They have to worry just like the rest of the world about food and
drug tampering. They also have registered trademark to keep others from infringing on
their good and profitable use of the scriptures and a nice concept.
The
religious significance of these mints may not be as apparent as the banality of their
marketing appeal. Who buys and offers these mints? What do the mints represent to the
people who pick them up? Why do they need to be customized? You can’t put very much
scripture on a mint wrapping. Instead the mints serve as a marker. The people offering
them identify themselves as Christian. They symbolically "share" the gospel and
hospitality when they share something sweet with customers, friends, church members, and
so forth. In turn those who take a mint accept the gospel, albeit in a small symbolic way.
They too mark themselves either as friends of the message, or at least as willing hearers.
We have
carried Bible message-bearing candy elsewhere on this site. (See the Bible
gum.) Here we feature both sides of a promotional postcard marketing Manna
MintsŪ, a product offered for sale since 1982. These Christian marketing materials are a
reminder of how much Christian product placement and marketing is shaped by the
marketplace around it. Manna MintsŪ has volume discounts, a web site for more
information, and is concerned to give consumers choices from chocolate, to fruit buttons,
to sugar-free sweets. They have to worry just like the rest of the world about food and
drug tampering. They also have registered trademark to keep others from infringing on
their good and profitable use of the scriptures and a nice concept.
The
religious significance of these mints may not be as apparent as the banality of their
marketing appeal. Who buys and offers these mints? What do the mints represent to the
people who pick them up? Why do they need to be customized? You can’t put very much
scripture on a mint wrapping. Instead the mints serve as a marker. The people offering
them identify themselves as Christian. They symbolically "share" the gospel and
hospitality when they share something sweet with customers, friends, church members, and
so forth. In turn those who take a mint accept the gospel, albeit in a small symbolic way.
They too mark themselves either as friends of the message, or at least as willing hearers.