Christian Mingle?

[xDreamerx]

Has anyone seen these television adverts for a website called "ChristianMingle.com". I've seen them on TLC, and much to my surprise MSNBC. There I was peacefully watching Rachel Maddow and BAM!

[Alecto]

The reason you see ads on places like MSNBC is because companies like this do what is called a bulk buy. They buy from a group (such as NBC Universal) and get a lower rate in exchange for their commercials being able to be aired on any NBC owned station during a particular time frame. The networks then use these commercials to fill in for when there are not specific slots sold.

[xDreamerx]

I figured it was something like that, but I thought that would at least screen them and make some kind of a deal perhaps agreeing to show certain ones and not others, so that the ads at least reflect the attitudes of the network a little. I suppose money is money.

[ladypuglover]

I saw it and it made me think of everyone on here.

[GenerationCedarchip]

I saw those, too. FJ is obviously rubbing off on me because my first thought was, "Now THAT does not look like courtship to me!"

[alphaeta08]

I've seen those, and the always make me lol! Then I think it would be WAY too worldly for our "friends." :lol:

[Alecto]

Exactly, after all they allow divorced people

[xDreamerx]

Exactly, after all they allow divorced people

Shock horror, shock horror.

[Alecto]

I figured it was something like that, but I thought that would at least screen them and make some kind of a deal perhaps agreeing to show certain ones and not others, so that the ads at least reflect the attitudes of the network a little. I suppose money is money.

A lot of times this is done through a service, and the bulk buy includes a lot of different ads that are either from the same company (ie Proctor and Gamble) or same agency. The commercials are on what is called a "auto rotator" and they come up in order, but across all of the networks. So if the next open spot is on Bravo, and it's for Christian Mingle, it airs.

I used to do this for a living. I worked for a gospel station, and we'd get advertisements for country music boxed sets on the overnight.

[Antigone]

hehe! I see those ads online, and most recently, on facebook. They popped up on hubby's profile, and he laughed about it. He said he highly doubts that he is their demographic, especially since he is listed as "married" and to boot I am wife number 2. Ha. :) It kind of answered my own question about whether or not they screen ads very well... ;)

[bananacat]

To me it seems actually more mainstream than eHarmony (which was always secretive about its evangelical background). But it does seem to play into the Christian persecution complex that some people have, considering that the vast majority of people in this country identify as Christian. It's really not that hard to find someone who is Christian, so it's not really that much different than other dating sites. But I guess this advertising more towards Christians who are really active about their religion or those who make a big deal about it whenever they can. Still, it seems a little unnecessary.

[lilwriter85]

I have noticed the commercials being played on news channels and the other day when I watching something on A&E a commercial played. I find the commercials to be cringeworthy.

[xDreamerx]

To me it seems actually more mainstream than eHarmony (which was always secretive about its evangelical background). But it does seem to play into the Christian persecution complex that some people have, considering that the vast majority of people in this country identify as Christian. It's really not that hard to find someone who is Christian, so it's not really that much different than other dating sites. But I guess this advertising more towards Christians who are really active about their religion or those who make a big deal about it whenever they can. Still, it seems a little unnecessary.

I have a funny eHarmony story, well a little story, more like a storyette. My friend, a fellow writer set up a few fake dating profiles and made them as generic as possible. She would wait until people wrote to her but instead of writing her own replies she just used the last message she had received from someone else as the answer. She then made the whole thing into a poem. I was going to do a similar thing with eHarmony but when I went to make a profile I discovered you could only make ones for men seeking women or women seeking men and was offened so I abandoned that avenue.

[Ozzie]

I get the strangest Facebook ads. :( I'm a hardcore liberal atheist, I get ads for what I think is a Rabbinical school (or otherwise a school with a Jewish focus, it isn't clear from the ads). I have no kids, I get ads for moms returning to college. That sort of thing.

[Nothing2CHere]

[i have a funny eHarmony story, well a little story, more like a storyette. My friend, a fellow writer set up a few fake dating profiles and made them as generic as possible. She would wait until people wrote to her but instead of writing her own replies she just used the last message she had received from someone else as the answer. She then made the whole thing into a poem. I was going to do a similar thing with eHarmony but when I went to make a profile I discovered you could only make ones for men seeking women or women seeking men and was offened so I abandoned that avenue.

I've told my husband I want us both to create eHarmony accounts, to see if they'd match us up as being compatible :lol:

[nolongerIFBx]

I've told my husband I want us both to create eHarmony accounts, to see if they'd match us up as being compatible :lol:

That would be fun!

[nolongerIFBx]

To me it seems actually more mainstream than eHarmony (which was always secretive about its evangelical background). But it does seem to play into the Christian persecution complex that some people have, considering that the vast majority of people in this country identify as Christian. It's really not that hard to find someone who is Christian, so it's not really that much different than other dating sites. But I guess this advertising more towards Christians who are really active about their religion or those who make a big deal about it whenever they can. Still, it seems a little unnecessary.

You can specify which denomination you are and how important it is to you that your match be the same/similar denomination as you are. You can also select how active in your church you are which gives others some clue of how you live your faith. You do, of course, get the same fake profiles as you find on any dating site.

[Austin]

That would be fun!

Uh. . . not so much. lol

They actually have (had) a compatibility test for married people on the eHarmony site and my husband and I both took it for kicks around 2007-08 and according to the results, we should not be together.

Yeah, it wasn't pretty. :D

Long story short: I'll take 29 mostly happy years of marriage over eHarmony compatibility tests.

On a barely-related note, I recently read a book by the guy who was the original co-host with James Dobson on his FoTF radio show. He spills quite a bit about ole' Jimmy-boy, but an interesting side note is that when this guy (his first name is Gil, last name I can't remember at the moment) was having marital problems, Dobson sent him and his wife to his buddy, Neil Clark Warren, PhD. The good Dr. Warren, although a licensed psychologist, clearly didn't have a clue about patient confidentiality and shared everything that was said in the marital counseling to Dobson, with no permission from the couple at all. This allowed Dobson to interfere in almost unimaginable ways in their disintegrating marriage, which of course, he did with great relish and self-righteousness.

Warren is slimy. I can't even sit through one of his commercials now.

[Guest Anonymous]

Christian Mingle ads have been getting prime time advertising slots on the main channels in the UK, just this last couple of weeks. They would have to be paid for and at quite a premium too.

[Nora509]

[xDreamerx]

Can you fill out the questionaire for free? Part of me wants to try it so I can see just what they ask.

[Mellon]

You know, when I see these commercials, my thoughts are always something around the lines of: Gee, it's such a shame that this demographic (Christians) don't have any sort of forum or community that they could meet with on any regular basis - say, once a week - so that they can hang out with people who have similar beliefs and talk about those beliefs and maybe use them as a basis for a relationship - whether as friends, or more.

Oh, wait.... :doh:

Teehee.

[Alecto]

A different dating site matched me not once, but twice with my ex-husband.

[nolongerIFBx]

Can you fill out the questionaire for free? Part of me wants to try it so I can see just what they ask.

Yes.