When I was a senior in college, I worked at Seagull Book and Tape, an LDS book and trinket store across the street from the LA Temple. (The pay was lousy, but working with books was fun. So it turned out to be a decent job.) I was amazed by all the stuff that Mormons buy just because it has some sort of Mormon reference or connection. There were stripling warriors t-shirts, iron rod key chains, temple recommend card holders, choose the right pencils, and much, much more.<\/p>\n
As a social commentator, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m disgusted by the unashamed use of Mormon ideals and images for profit. As a devout Mormon, I appreciate why people might feel so strongly about the Church that they want it more in their lives, even if it means wearing it on their t-shirts. As an economist, I understand this phenomenon as simply the market forces of supply and demand at work. Yet, as an opportunist, I have my own idea to make money:<\/p>\n
Have you ever come in late into sacrament meeting and had to sit in the overflow area on cold, hard, uncomfortable, metal folding chairs? If you have, then this product is for you\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I present to you the Sacrament Meeting butt-pads. Made of a plastic outer shell with an inch or two of foam padding on the outside, the Sacrament Meeting butt-pads come in many designs and colors. Choose from one of two Joseph Smith pads\u00e2\u20ac\u201done of him with raised sword in front of the Nauvoo Legion and one of him with his face buried in the hat translating the gold plates\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Collect them all!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You get the idea. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d start with famous dead Mormons, like JS, BY, Emma, Eliza, etc. If I did it this year then I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be sure to have WW since we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re studying his teachings. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d also add non-humans, such as the SL Temple or other local temples, one with a CTR logo, one with a cigarette with line drawn through it, etc. Maybe even use different materials. A cloth and cross-stitched pad with lace for the older RS sister, perhaps. Who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face do you want to sit on–wait, that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come out right.<\/p>\n
I really think this product would sell because I actually got the idea one Sunday after my sore and benumbed rear end sat through a way too long Sacrament meeting. I admit I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d need a better name. Maybe \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Celestial Seat Cushions\u00e2\u20ac? or just plain ol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Overflow Pads,\u00e2\u20ac? although that name might have an unintended interpretation.<\/p>\n
What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your take on making money off the Mormons? Disgust? Intrigue? Market capitalism at work? Please explain in 50 words or more. Do you have an idea that can make more money than my idea?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I was a senior in college, I worked at Seagull Book and Tape, an LDS book and trinket store across the street from the LA Temple. (The pay was lousy, but working with books was fun. So it turned out to be a decent job.) I was amazed by all the stuff that Mormons buy just because it has some sort of Mormon reference or connection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,54,55],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-3300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corn","category-mormon-life","category-news-politics","tag-popular-culture-and-media"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5657,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions\/5657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}