In Utah, July 24 — celebrated as Pioneer Day — marks the 1847 arrival of European-American settlers to the territory that would become the Beehive State. But don’t call them “Mormon” pioneers. That’s a word The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is trying to corral, even as others stake their claim.
In pop culture, the term is nearly inescapable: from song-belting missionaries in “The Book of Mormon” musical (now celebrating its 15th anniversary) to dancing reality TV moms in the hit “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”
The LDS Church, however, has made a concerted effort to stop using the word, and they say, in fact, no one should be using it. In 2018, then Church President Russell M. Nelson told the world to stop using the nickname “Mormon Church.”
“To remove the Lord’s name from the Lord’s Church is a major victory for Satan,” he said.
They’ve wholly embraced the full name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, over the former shorthand. The world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir became The Choir at Temple Square, and mormon.org was redirected to churchofjesuschrist.org.
The church’s style guide instructs people not to call members “Mormon.”
Brand strategist Graceann Bennett thinks that approach is a problem.
“Because then other people can come in and co-opt it,” she said. “Without being a voice in that cultural conversation, then you just leave it up to everybody else to define you.”
She’s worked with Coke, Pepsi, and Dove, and was the mastermind behind the massive “I’m a Mormon” campaign in the early 2010s, when the church leaned into the term. The idea came to Bennett one night in a hotel room, and she knew the first video had to be about lead singer of The Killers, Brandon Flowers.
He talks about music and family, and at the end declares, “I’m a father, I’m a husband and I’m a Mormon.” The idea was to humanize Flowers first as a person before revealing his religion. That changes how people view church members, Bennett said, and might make them more willing to learn about the faith.
More than one way to Mormon
But now, when most people outside of Utah hear about Latter-day Saints, it’s through influencers or Hollywood’s obsession with Mormon culture. In a provocative promotional trailer for “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” cast member Mayci Neeley says, “We’re trying to change the stigma of gender roles in the Mormon culture.”
Hair extensions, dirty soda and friend drama have become such an aesthetic that some of the women cast in a planned California spinoff seem to have no connection to the church. The series purports to show there are different ways to be Mormon, something Lindsay Hansen Park believes was true long before the show became a phenomenon.
“Mormonism is not just a belief system. It is not just a religion,” she said. “Because the tradition marks you so deeply, and it is a cultural heritage.”
Park is executive director of Sunstone, a nonprofit that hosts forums on Mormon thought. Their slogan is: “More than one way to Mormon.”
The term doesn’t belong to anyone, Park said, even as the church tries to wrestle back control through legal action. It’s in the middle of a trademark infringement lawsuit against the Mormon Stories podcast, which explores Latter-day Saint faith and culture and is hosted by an excommunicated psychologist.
There are many offshoots of the original church as well, like various Mormon fundamentalist groups and Community of Christ.
“It belongs to this movement of over 450 to 500 different religious identities,” Park said. “They're not going to be able to control that word any more than, you know, some church in the South will be able to control the word Baptist. It's just too big of a movement.”
That includes people who are no longer members of the LDS Church and still consider themselves Mormon, like therapist Natasha Helfer.
“As a person who's been excommunicated from the church, I still say I am a Mormon,” she said. “I grew up Mormon. I have a lot of my Mormon values.”
It’s not just a religion, it’s a culture
Mormons have a very strong culture and community. So much so that Helfer founded the Mormon Mental Health Association to train therapists on the psychology and background unique to the Mormon diaspora. She credits the culture to what Utah celebrates on July 24 — pioneer heritage.
“They went through a lot of hardship. You know, left their homes out East and came out to the West, and that is a very bonding experience. And they were isolated out here for a very long time.”
In 2015, the church sent the Mormon Mental Health Association a cease and desist letter for its use of the word. But Helfer argues Mormon is an identity. And it was confusing to Latter-day Saints, she said, when the church disowned the word.
“It went from a marker of pride to now a marker of sin,” she said.
That shift still affects some people’s mental health today, Helfer said. To some, it has felt like abandonment and an erasure of history, leading to things like depression and anxiety.
In the end, there’s no use in fighting the power of culture, said Bennett, the brand strategist. It’s more influential than the church or reality TV or a podcast.
“If you're smart enough to play with that energy and play with that cultural phenomenon that's already happening, then you can win,” she said. “But you can't stop that thing from happening in the culture. You can just play with it in the most clever, creative, powerful way.”
Whoever can capture the public’s attention will own that term, Bennett said, until the next sensational thing comes along.
