So I took the youngest school supply shopping, and afterwards we went to Sweet Frog. My head was down, as I was thinking hard about whether I should put more chocolate sprinkles on my frozen yogurt. (Answer: Of COURSE I should…) I look up to see a sweet teenaged girl chirping at me from behind the counter, ready to ring up my order.
I tried really hard not to stare at her torso. Really hard. But I was trying to make sure her shirt said what I thought it said. It was a Sweet Frog shirt – nothing unusual about that – all the employees wear Sweet Frog shirts. This girl’s shirt, though, had a fun anagram on it! (Is it a mnemonic device? I’m always getting those mixed up. Anyhow…) It said,
Sweet
F ully
R ely
O n
G od
Well, then. I always like my froyo with sprinkles and a side of proselytizing!
I looked it up when I got home and learned, sure enough, Sweet Frog is a company founded on Christian principles. That’s not a deterrent for me, by the way. I frequent many stores whose owners are Christian. I don’t even mind when they run their businesses on Christian principles. If I learn (as I sadly often do) that said Christian principles motivate them to spend oodles of their profits on anti-gay and anti-women causes, I simply choose not to shop there. Being founded on Christian principles alone, though, doesn’t make me uncomfortable as a consumer in the slightest. I know too many brilliant, open-hearted, non-judgmental Christians for it to make me feel like that.
Regarding Sweet Frog, specifically, I have no idea what the politics of the owners/founders are. Even the fact that the “Frog” in “Sweet Frog” stands for “fully rely on god” wouldn’t elicit a protest from me. An eye-roll, perhaps, but not a blog post.
That the employees are passive-aggressively doling out spiritual guidance? THAT bothers me. It’s not even like it was telling me that the person wearing it fully relied on god. It didn’t say, “Sweet I-Fully-Rely-On-God!” It was a directive. It was telling ME to fully rely on god. That’s taking it a little too far for my taste.
Please understand me. I do not want to fuel the outrage machine. I’m not encouraging others to boycott or complain. I’m not judging those who appreciate the message. I’m simply speaking of my personal reaction to such business practices.
AS SUCH…
When I set out to buy a frozen delicious treat, I’m not going to church. I’m not interested in being faith-bombed. I AM going to buy frozen yogurt.
Elsewhere.
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