We were out shopping and I needed some deodorant. I reached out for the Lynx Body Spray. Don’t get that says my wife get something else, have you seen the adverts, they are appalling. Yes I had seen the adverts and she is right – as usual. I bought another brand, and will not buy Lynx again.
But then my mind was flooded with an examination of the advert. I quickly concluded the adverts teach two very important truths – God is real and man is rebellious. Follow me through and see if you agree.
The latest advert has a guy building a boat that is quite obviously meant to be Noah’s Ark. As he finishes it he looks to the horizon and sees two people approaching. They are in fact two very attractive women, and then another two and another two and so on, you get the idea. Again this is a take on the animals coming to the Ark.
The adverts are offensive and they are meant to be so. It’s a slap in the face to anyone that believes the Bible to be the Word of God. But it’s also a slap in the face of God. Some of you will now see where I’m going with this – but stick with it.
It’s deliberately offensive because old fuddy duddies like me believe the Bible and the account of Noah and the Judgement of God. But deep down everyone also knows it to be true and because the truth of it cannot be erased it is vilified, denounced, made fun of, and made to look irrelevant. But if it were not true such treatment would surely lose its force. I mean why make fun of something that isn’t true.
Romans 1:18 speaks to this: ‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.’
In other words people deliberately ‘suppress’ or ‘hold down’ the truth. Why do this – because people know deep down that its all true and that they have to meet God one day. This is the foolish logic of unbelief.
And so, the advert proves the very thing it seeks to make fun of. And confirms man in their rebellion against their Creator God to whom they must one day give account. As someone has said: you must be sitting on their lap to slap them in the face. And so it is with Lynx. They rely on God for their next breath, yet slap Him in the face. What a marvellous thing the Grace of God is. In spite of this behaviour He still holds out Salvation to all that will call upon Him.
I’m not going to buy Lynx products again and I doubt they will be bothered in the slightest. But I am encouraged by the advert because it confirms, I think, very powerfully the Truth of the Bible. That’s the Lynx Effect.
Related articles
- ‘Offensive’ Lynx adverts face ban (bbc.co.uk)
- ‘Offensive’ Lynx posters banned by watchdog (independent.co.uk)
