Rev. Don Campbell

THOUGHT FOR TODAY, MAY 2, 2017: REMEMBERING THE “CLEAN UP TV” CAMPAIGN

Some of you may remember the “Clean Up TV” campaign about 35 years ago. The idea seems to have been born in the 60s in Great Britain, but it was led among the churches of Christ by the Joelton, Tennessee Church of Christ. The idea was to put pressure on advertisers not to sponsor shows that were deemed offensive by those who joined together to make our voices heard. Participants pledged not to buy products from companies that sponsored such programs as Dallas, Charlie’s Angels, The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, Three’s a Crowd and Soap.

It isn’t even debatable; the campaign failed to accomplish its purpose. Some of the above-mentioned shows look like family fare compared to what is on TV today. What went wrong? Probably a lot of things—500,000 signatures are, relatively speaking, a very small number compared to the total population; many who signed did not carry through on their pledge; we were outnumbered by those who watched the shows, and for several other reasons which sociologist could probably identify.

I believe that one of the greatest reasons was that we were David going up against Goliath and instead of fighting in the name of the God of Israel, we tried to strap on the armor of the world and fight with the weapons of carnal warfare. Many organizations use every trick imaginable to win their battles, the church has only one offensive weapon—the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. Nothing has changed since Paul said, “The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Cor 10:4).