Commercials for God

The goofy, spoofy radio commercials of Stan Freberg have moved a lot of Chun King Chinese food and Contadina tomato paste ("Eight great tomatoes in that little bitty can?") into the stomachs of consumers, and now Stan is going to try to move some of the consumers into church. His newest client: the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Says Satirist Freberg, who earns about $500,000 a year by gently kidding his employers' products: "They wanted me to try to sell Christianity, actually, and I said I thought we would reach more people if we narrowed it down to God." Freberg decided that blending humor and heaven was a real challenge--"and I always rise to challenges. I don't take on any client unless he has a problem." He has just completed three 60-second radio spots, which the Presbyterians will start testing in the Midwest this summer. The commercials cost $12,000 --about $2,000 over budget, but Freberg will take the loss. "It's my way of getting back at the Internal Revenue Service," he says.

The format of Freberg's spiritual ads is "a disarming natural conversational approach leading into a song that's like a pop tune. It's what I call the 'espionage approach.' " In one commercial, a secular type says he can't make it to church because "this Sunday I'm playing golf," and as far as next Sunday goes, "I promised to take the kids to the beach." A voice asks: "Well, how about two weeks from Sunday?" "Oh, I never plan that far ahead. Two weeks! The whole world could blow up by then. Heh heh." "That's right," the voice answers, after a meaningful pause, and a chorus of 15 swings into he clinching jingle: Where'd you get the idea You could make it by yourself? Doesn't it get a little lonely, sometimes, Out on that limb . . . without Him . . . It's a great life but it could be greater, Why try and go it alone? The blessings you lose may be your own.

The son of a retired Baptist minister, Baptist Freberg is dead serious about lis latest advertising campaign. "I did t for God," he says. "I feel I was destined to do more than just move how mein off a shelf."

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