If you watch any TV at all, by now you have probably seen one of the new commercials currently being aired by the Mormons.

It seems that Rochester is “one of nine test markets for the advertising campaign that cheerfully counters stereotypes of Mormons as straight-laced, white, humorless and sexist.”

According to a story on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website (one of the other test markets),

The ads arrived on the heels of an anti-Mormon backlash by some gay rights activists on the West Coast. But the campaign’s designers said it responds only to numerous survey findings that half of Americans don’t know a Mormon.

“It’s time to reintroduce ourselves,” said Scott Swofford, the director of mormon.org.

“We hope the spots portray Mormons as diverse people who are united in their belief in Jesus Christ. … We hope [Americans] see that Mormons are friendly, charitable, giving to others. We aren’t perfect, but our behavior ought to reflect our beliefs.”

Areas chosen for the test  have TV markets “small enough to be affordable but large enough for follow-up studies of the ads’ impact.”

Already the ads have been driving a lot of new traffic to the Mormon’s web site, which undoubtedly will be one measure of the ads’ impact. Another is sure to be the number of new converts brought into the Mormon fold as a result of the ads.

Given that most Rochester area Catholics have been the victims of dozens of years of abysmal catechesis, and that over 25% of our weekend Mass attendees have gone AWOL in just the last 10 years, it wouldn’t be too surprising if a large proportion of the Mormon’s local converts just happen to bear the label “former Catholic.”

Full story here.