Does God Need a Better Publicist at the Oscars?

Recently, Dr. Larry Poland, founder of Mastermedia International showed me some interesting figures first published in Slate on the number of times God gets thanks at the Oscars.  As Dr. Poland put it:  “Nathaniel Rogers and Chris Kirk crunched the numbers on who gets thanked in Oscar acceptances speeches.

The title of their piece says it all: “Meryl Streep Gets Thanked More Than God.” Rogers and Kirk note that over the past twelve years, 47 actors have given acceptance speeches at the Oscar ceremony. Analyzing who got thanked in each speech, they discovered that God was number 15 out of 17 categories, beating out only “Cast and Crew” and the “Role Portrayed.”

In case you were wondering, leading the list of the objects of gratitude were: 1. The industry, 2. Other, 3. Producer, 4. Co-star, 5. Director, and 6. Family.  Women more often than men thank those who gave them their start in the business. Agents fight for top billing, but seldom get it.

Larry ended his piece:  “Most actors end thanking a loved one. Maybe someday more actors will love God—and He’ll get more thanks on Oscar night.”