A few years ago the Levi Straus jeans company ran a controversial TV commercial. The ad begins with a woman meeting three men in a dark street at night. She gets into a car and is driven to a secluded river. There she wades into the dark waters, followed by her three friends. The men wear Levi’s jeans; the woman wears a skirt. She lowers herself waist-deep into the river. One of the men then wades close, puts his hand on her forehead, and pushes her backward, baptising her. As the woman comes up, we see a miracle has happened: she now wears a pair of Levi’s. The phrase ‘Born Again’ then appears on the screen. 1
The advertisement is telling because it makes explicit what is happening implicitly in secular societies like ours. We’re seeking salvation at the shopping mall and rebirth through brand names. We’re looking for new life through what we own, drive, wear, and buy. That makes materialism a religion, money a god, and the shopping centre a popular place of worship today.
