Just folks

Golllleee, Ange, them Mormons ain't strange a'tall. Why, they're just as normal as us regular folks!

The Mormon church recently launched a new ad campaign in nine U.S. cities that show regular people talking about their lives and hobbies before announcing near the end of the spots that they are Mormons.

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According to Joel Campbell, a Mormon journalism professor at Brigham Young University who is researching the ad campaign, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a TV ad campaign three years ago that tried to explain Mormon beliefs. Research showed that the ads were too "sophisticated" and viewers weren't getting the message.

These new ads dodge religion almost altogether in favor of a simpler message: We're not weird. In the ad below, pro surfer Joy Monahan says, "I'm a surfer, a woman, and a woman's longboard champion. And I'm a Mormon."

Yeah, treat other people like simpleminded goofs who need to be spoonfed sunny stories -- that'll make 'em like you. The piece speculates that the ads might have an ulterior motive to pave the way for an expected presidential push from former Massachusetts governor and famous Mormon Mitt Romney. If so, they're a waste of time, money and effort. Unless leaders of the Republican Party are complete idiots (always a possibility), they've learned the lesson that giving the nominations to the old guys who've paid their dues and waited their turn is not the best way to win elections.