Dooley1

Alex Dooley

COMM 494 Essay on Communication Ethics

Dr. Lynn Cooper

17 February 2015

Kind, Tenderhearted Forgiveness: A Redeemed, Ethical Brand Mantra

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. -Ephesians 4:32, ESV

Focus. Every communicator needs focus. Establishing focus in ones life aids a

person in setting goals, staying on task, and remaining true to their identity throughout the

course of their life. Can focus be generated at will? Is there a list of rules, a communication

Bible of sorts to follow for the sake of communicating well? Having a comprehensive list of

ethical ways to live as a communicator sounds really great; I would personally love to be able

to hold up a litmus test for ethics and appropriateness in my own communication. That being

said, long lists of rules can be cumbersome and unwieldy, often creating more of a burden

than a lift. The ultimate determinant of ethical communication is, to a believer, all that is

true through the person of Christ quite a long list, to say the least. This is why developing a

fully codified method for living as an ethical, Christlike communicator is both unhelpful and

unrealistic. Furthermore, it stands to reason that creating a concise personal mantra for

oneself is a better model for remaining consistent in ethical, helpful communication

throughout the course of ones life. Every mission statement, mantra, or personal credo

looks different depending on the person adopting it. In my own life, the main principles

Dooley2

outlined in Ephesians 4:32 kind, tenderhearted forgiveness serve as the primary ways

through which I plan to live as a communicator.

In 1999, the National Communication Association (NCA) adopted a formal Credo For

Ethical Communication after a multi-year period of research and review. The conference,

aimed at establishing ground rules for defining ethics and their relationship to

communication, developed and endorsed a full nine principles for ethical communication,

unanimously adopting them as the standard for ethical communication on November 6, 1999

(Andersen 142). The credo adopted by the NCA is comprehensive, passing without debate,

and contains an incredible amount of truth and insight into communication, much of it even

matching up with the tenets laid out in Ephesians 4:32: We promote communication

climates of caring and mutual understanding that respect the unique needs and

characteristics of individual communicators reads the fifth point in the NCA credo, echoing

the verse in question. While the NCA credo is solid, being based on many of the ethical

principles outlined in scripture and through the life of Jesus, it reads as somewhat

impersonal and organizational. It works, but for whom? To function handily as a personal

credo, the principles must be easily rememberable and portable, ready to be referenced at a

moments notice. In order to serve as a practical credo, the most important parts of what it

means to be an ethical communicator must be further boiled down.

Enter Nike and the Walt Disney Company. These are two huge, multinational

corporations with a vastly-reaching of goods, services, and products. Much like a

communicator must encompass the wide boundaries of what it means to be ethical, these

companies must be able to identify their purpose for existence in a relatable, concise

manner. This is where individuals can learn something from these corporations, taking the

Dooley3

same strategy used to identify and develop a corporate mantra and applying it on a personal

level.

The mantra model used by Nike and Disney is simple. As explained by Kevin Lane

Keller in his article Brand Mantras: Rationale, Criteria, and Examples published in the Journal

of Marketing Management, mantras are brief, three to five word phrases that capture the

core essence of a brands values and identity. Brand mantras ensure that each individual

within the corporation can easily and fully understand how the company desires to be

perceived by others and what kind of messages it wants to send to its receivers: potential

customers (Keller 45). A good brand mantra is specific enough to give clear direction and

guidance into the way the company wants to portray itself, yet general enough to be

reinterpreted into a variety of situations. The best mantras incorporate three main elements:

an emotional modifier; a descriptive modifier; and a brand function (Keller 48). These

elements are respectively represented in Nikes mantra of authentic athletic performance

and Disneys mantra of fun family entertainment; each captures the most irrefutably

important parts of the brand on every level emotional, descriptive, and functional and

casts a vision for what every interaction within the company, both internally and with

customers, should look like.

I am not a brand, per se, but identifying and understanding the most important

aspects of being an ethical, effective communicator seems to be an important thing. Keeping

my humanity in mind, I believe the brand mantra model of identifying purpose to be

incredibly effective in helping me identify my purpose and set the tone for my interactions

with those around me. Constructing and portraying a consistent message for the sake of

both my interpersonal relationships with others and my representation of the gospel of Christ

Dooley4

can be effectively done by adopting the brand mantra model of purpose-identification.

Synthesizing theological, communication, and marketing/advertising principles, in this

particular case, actually works beautifully.

Taking a closer look at the text of Ephesians 4:32 reveals something fascinating: its

structure nearly perfectly follows the model for an effective brand mantra laid out by Keller.

Forgiveness, the brand function, highlights the principle focus of a communicator when the

communicator is being like Christ as God in Christ forgave you. The descriptive modifier,

tenderhearted, describes the function itself. This is not a begrudging, reluctant, or

half-hearted forgiveness, it is a tenderhearted one the kind of forgiveness that truly

absolves the wrongdoer any continuing burden. Kind, the emotional modifier, qualifies the

method in which the brand delivers this tenderhearted forgiveness, further clarifying the

nature of the brand and giving another key to unlocking effective communication for those

within the brand. The resulting mantra Kind, tenderhearted forgiveness ends up as a

true description of how I want to communicate with others and what I believe the core nature

of ethical communication to be.

Assuming I understand God as the source of all truth, and thus the source of all

ethics, Christianity itself works as a sort of brand in this context; this brand is the brand of

truth, and all those who bear its mark must faithfully represent its values in their interactions

with other people. Unpacking the three components of this verse kindness,

tenderheartedness, and forgiveness will help identify the brand values of Christianity;

interpreting communication as the voice and actions through which faith speaks and moves

creates a model in which the communicator me can always look to my own personal

mantra as an effective method of living as an ethical communicator.

Dooley5

Be kind to one another

The call to exhibit kindness and compassion to others has a very practical purpose

for anyone living in a tightly-knit community. Whenever each person places the well-being of

other people physical, spiritual, emotional, and otherwise above that of themselves, the

entire community benefits. It is far better to have everyone looking out for one another than

to exist in a dog-eat-dog world of individualism and self-centeredness. Words spoken to add

value to the lives of other people through their kindness and compassion have a boomerang

effect, showing back up in the life of the one who spoke them. Acting kindly in this way

creates a positive brand association with community-building, neighborliness, and focus on

other people

...tenderhearted

Without tenderheartedness, any amount of kindness or forgiveness is rendered

unbelievable and doubtful on the part of the receiver. If I am to live effectively and ethically as

a communicator, I must take care to present myself as somebody who understands and

empathizes with the perspective of another. Whether I am simply acting with a tender heart

in general or specifically exhibiting tenderheartedness in the action of forgiveness, this

ingredient in my personal mantra is the connector of kindness and forgiveness; neither

functions properly without it.

...forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Sometimes, whether by intent or accident, the words or actions of one person or

group can cause harm to other people. An important part of showing kindness and

tenderheartedness, particularly within the Christian community, is answering the call to

forgive the wrongdoings of other people. Holding the sins of a person against them for a

Dooley6

prolonged period of time squashes any room for growth and learning through a negative

situation. Accepting apologies when they are given and extending forgiveness when they are

not allows the victim of wrongdoing not only to move on from a thing that caused them pain,

but also to learn from the experience and process it beyond the initial framework of hurt and

anger. Consciously recalling past wrongs in conversation or thought redresses concerns that

may be better off left in the past.

Remembering Gods forgiveness, which stems from his love, gives me cause to

forgive and love others as an imitator of Christ. This love and forgiveness is done from an

attitude of tenderhearted kindness. Kind, tenderhearted forgiveness: a mantra that captures

the essence of what it means to be a good communicator for the sake of the gospel.

Developing a personal mantra that so effectively ties together my reason for

communicating and identifies the perception and feelings I want to evince through my

communication is exceedingly more helpful than creating even a short list of practical rules

for ethical communication. The power of a mantra is its ability to be reinterpreted into

multiple contexts the list of rules and best practices flows from these principles, not the

other way around. Joel Carpenter speaks of the need for Christian communicators to adapt

communication styles and principles to different cultures in his article The Christian Scholar

in an Age of Global Christianity; the gospel itself is reinterpreted into whatever context it

reaches, so our communication must do the same. Gods truth transcends culture, and

because the mantra kind, tenderhearted forgiveness flows from the complete source of truth,

it is also transcendent and will be reinterpreted into whatever culture or society it is carried.

It makes sense that the transcendent God, who, despite his transcendence and

perfection, introduced himself to humanity through the incarnation of the person of Jesus,

Dooley7

expects his children to follow this example of cultural and contextual relativism in their

communication. Every attempt at remaining attuned to various cultural and communicative

styles should be done for the sake of furthering the cause of the gospel Christ himself must

remain our focus in establishing goals for living as communicators. With the kind,

tenderhearted forgiveness of Christ as my own example, I am able to live this kind of life.

Keeping this redeemed, personal brand mantra in mind, I am able to focus on loving others

in the same way Christ loved me first. Kind, tenderhearted forgiveness describes both the

process and the product for communicating Gods truth, the heart of all ethics in

communication; this mantra acts as both the method of love and the result of loving well.

Since I have been redeemed by the power of Christ, my communication must also be

redeemed, and focusing my personal mantra on Christ is the best way to consistently show

his love to those around me.

Dooley8

References

Lane, K. K. (April 01, 1999). Brand Mantras: Rationale, Criteria and Examples. Journal

of Marketing Management, 15, 43-51.

Andersen, K. E. (2000). Developments in Communication Ethics: The Ethics

Commission, Code of Professional Responsibilities, Credo for Ethical Communication.

Journal Of The Association For Communication Administration, 29(1), 131-144.

Carpenter, Joel A. (2006). The Christian Scholar in an Age of Global Christianity in

Christianity and the soul of the university: Faith as a foundation for intellectual community.

Henry, D. V., & Beaty, M. D. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic.