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I caught this on Group’s Facebook page yesterday and wanted to update everyone on our site too. Group Publishing has made a last minute change to the name of their 2011 Vacation Bible School curriculum. According to their Facebook page:
We got some news! We received some feedback from concerned customers regarding the name of our Easy VBS 2011 program–PandaMonium. So, as of late last week, we have changed the name to PandaMania.
The issue revolved around some online definitions of Pandemonium. According to Merriam-Webster, the word is from Greek that meant something about evil spirits. It was also the capital of Hell in Milton’s Paradise Lost.
There was also some brand baggage. There was the Pandemonium video game from 1996 that has been released on smartphones since 2009. The game included elements of magic that might offend some Christian parents. There was also the 1982 movie titled Pandemonium and an unrelated 82-83 TV show. Both sounded a little odd too.
One of our readers brought up this issue in a comment last month. I didn’t think it was a big deal. To me, the theme name PandaMonium is a fun play on words. Almost zero kids will make a bad connection, and very few adults. Besides, I liked the idea of rewriting the dictionary. How ironic that this word could be reborn as a symbol of God’s love for a generation of kids.
On the other hand, Group has shown a teachable spirit in how they received these criticisms. They have obviously reconsidered the title and decided on a safe alternative. That is something about Group obvious to me – they are willing to change to better serve their customers. What they do is driven by ministry, not by ego. This change will likely create some extra work for them, but I trust them to do what’s right.
As for my blog, I’m going back to update the titles on previous posts about PandaMania. I will always have my PandaMonium t-shirts and now they too are an endangered species too!
Related posts:
- Group VBS 2011 Theme Announced: PandaMania
- Hero Headquaters VBS 2010 from Standard Publishing
- 2nd Review of Rome: Group’s Holy Land Adventure
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