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Marketing Christianity and Men of God Through the Use of Signs

Most advertising copies designed by Nigerian Pentecostal Churches are rarely monosemic and hardly understandable from a literal exegesis. This is partly due to the fact that they most often integrate various typologies of signs and symbols. These signs are aimed (i) to quickly and effectively convey specific meanings to the readership and (ii) fashion the overall advertising messages according to the taste of the time. Based on a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 490 advertising copies, this study reveals that 68.77% of the print advertisements generated by Nigerian Churches contain signs and symbols. Majority (56.08%) of these signs and symbols are Christian in nature (they are inspired by the universal Christian symbolism and iconography); while, 30.26% of them are rooted in the Nigerian socio-cultural context. The latter category of signs is commonly used in a postmodern or sensational manner, to make reference to local religious myths and specific socio-political events which seriously affect or shape Nigerian Pentecostal Christianities. This postmodern use of signs implicitly reveals that, the advertising message designers are conscious of the highly competitive environment in which churches and men of God operate in the country.