In 2011 a play called The Book of Mormon opened on Broadway telling the story of two Mormon missionaries sent to proselytize in a remote famine-stricken Ugandan village. When the play first appeared and the extent of its no-holds-barred mockery of Mormon beliefs became apparent the Mormon Church issued this brief response: “The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people’s lives forever.” (Afra l’pumaihu —EK.)
Later when the show made appearances around the country they bought ad space in the playbills of the various productions with short snappy messages like “The book is always better” and “You’ve seen the play now read the book.”
This stems from a conscious decision on their part about how to respond to anti-Mormon provocations in the media and entertainment fields. Back in 2009 the institution’s leadership issued a statement entitled “The Publicity Dilemma” addressing a particular cable-television show into which “more and more Mormon themes are now being woven… the characters are often unsympathetic figures who come across as narrow and self-righteous. And… it now seems the show’s writers are to depict what they understand to be… temple ceremonies.”
The statement acknowledged the reality that
[l]ike other large faith groups [we]… sometimes finds [ourselves] on the receiving end of attention from Hollywood or Broadway television series or books and the news media. Sometimes [the] depictions… are quite accurate. Sometimes the images are false or play to stereotypes. Occasionally they are in appallingly bad taste… Mormons… wonder whether and how they should respond when news or entertainment media insensitively trivialize or misrepresent sacred beliefs or practices.
