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You are here: Home / Archive / Mormon kitsch borrowing from popular culture

Mormon kitsch borrowing from popular culture

October 1, 1999 by Richard Cimino

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In the 1990s, Mormons have especially incorporated images and styles from the popular media into such mass-produced objects (called kitsch) as clothing, plaques, and toys.

In the independent Mormon magazine Sunstone (June), Jana Reiss writes that the tension between popular culture and Mormon values are evident in such projects as rings and T-shirts using a “CTR” slogan (after the popular Mormon slogan, “Choose the Right”) mimicking the style of Calvin Klein’s “CK” logo.

The Nike slogan of “Just Do It” was changed to the Mormon slogan “Just Go and Do It” and is now emblazoned on T-shirts heralding the Book of Mormon hero, Nephi. Such Book of Mormon action figures are among the best-selling products in Mormon bookstores. Reiss concludes that the recent growth of Mormon kitsch “reflects a desire to be accepted into the larger culture but on Mormon terms.”

(Sunstone, 343 N. Third West, Salt Lake City, UT 84103-1215)

 

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