Jesus Cropped from the Picture

The Traditional Method

conservatives defended Scripture on the basis of reason, making Rationalism a primary way to express Christian faith. By the 1950s, the Traditional Method was birthed in the context of withering attacks on the Bible, coalescing around a Rationalistic defense of the Bible that could hold its ground against liberal skeptics. Individualism through The Marketing Concept 72 The gestation of the Traditional Method coincided with titanic shifts in American business practices. From the industrial revolution to the 1920s, the conventional wisdom in business was for a company to make products it could manufacture, offer those products at a low price, and then the demand for that product would take care of itself. This was called the “Production Concept.”At that time, there were many customers, but not enough products to go around. Since consumers in the 1920s were eager for any low-priced product that met their basic needs, corporate sales forces and marketing techniques were rarely needed. However, by the 1930s mass production had become common and there were more products available than there were people to buy them. In fact, consumer products were becoming so common that businesses had to increase advertising and hiring more sales personnel to convince consumers to buy their products. This was called the “Sales Concept.” There was little attention paid to whether the consumer needed the product or not; the goal was to beat the competition, with little care for customer satisfaction.

After World War II, the amount of products and services exploded and the Sales Concept was no longer adequate. With a record amount

115