................................. To leave Commie, hyper to http://commie.oy.com/commie_leaving.html .................................
heh, this is a nifty newsletter, and in this issue they rant about the mindboggling hyprocrisy in post-9/11 USA advertising. not to mention the abundant bad taste... From: Carrie McLaren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 19:29:11 -0500 To: "Stay Free" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Stay Free! | 27 November Hello, I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday and watched as much television as I did. For the next STAY FREE, I'd like to compile some of the worst examples of advertisers exploiting the war in Afghanistan. . . so if you see anything egregious, let me know. Financial services seem to be leading the pack, reminding those who dare forget that investing in multinational corporations equals freedom. The New York Stock Exchange, for example, asso- ciates itself with the civil rights movement with the tagline, "Let Freedom Ring." A new trade group, Invest in US, is running an ad picturing Osama bin Laden under the headline, "He wants you to sell." (http://www.investinus.org) Syndicated gossip columnist Liz Smith got the message, writing that "the most important thing for citizens of any age--for themselves and for their Uncle Sam and as a tribute to the thousands who likely died--would be to call a broker and buy stock in American companies this week, and next week and the next." (9/18/01) In other markets: Chevrolet urges us to "Keep America Rolling" with a commercial that juxtaposes dramatic scenes of firefighters with a shot of a Chevy. http://industry.adcritic.com/content/chevy-keep-america-rolling-no-interest.html Newcastle Beer has advertising posters in bars that say, "Drink New- castle to help the victims of September 11." AT&T ran a commercial using dramatic footage of the World Trade Center to sell AT&T Wireless services. Also, a video on their website compares the heroic work of firefighters to the heroic response of the AT&T network (they're not kidding). See: http://www.att.com/response/spirit_dial.ram Then there are all the talking heads airing their perverted views about how we should just go shopping. Dick Cheney, for one, has called shopping a way for ordinary citizens to "stick their thumbs in the eye of the terrorists" (LA Times, 9/17/01). He's not alone, as dozens of local and national officials have echoed this sentiment. As far as I'm concerned, pushing SUVs and clothes and junk food in a time of crisis is one thing. But if companies want to capitalize on the war, they could at least not lie about it. There's nothing heroic about the 13 mpg that Chevrolet Suburbans get. And many of the same companies invested in this rah-rah Americanism are simul- taneously behind the scenes influencing media coverage of the war. Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Procter & Gamble (which owns Tide, Pampers, Tampax, etc.) told magazines it advertises in that no P&G ads can be placed within 6-8 pages of terrorist coverage. No doubt other major corporations have followed suit. Why else do you think the New York Times runs all the war coverage in a special section without ads? Not because it doesn't want ads to get in the way of the news, but because it doesn't want the news to get in the way of the ads! Ultimately, the problem with all the exhortations to spend is what's missing. Shop. Just shop. Don't read about U.S. foreign policy, or volunteer for a nonprofit, or write elected officials to let them know where you stand. Shopping is the media's way of turning a profit. And the government's way of keeping us stupid. - - - I was talking to a friend the other night who told me her post Sept. 11 pet peeve: people who drive around in SUVs decked out with U.S. flags. That sort of gets to the heart of the contradiction: instead of a patri- otism that favors conservation--thereby reducing our reliance on foreign oil--Americans' love of country is instead built around cheap flags and plastic replicas of the statue of Liberty. Urgh. - - - LINKS OF NOTE "Save Harry" Potter campaign against Coca-Cola: http://www.saveharry.org "Grow Your Own Rainforest" http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/taronga/gorilla/activities/frameset.htm McDonald's has sponsored a kids' website with a section called "Grow Your Own Rainforest." Yeah, kids, McDonald's may be killing off the rainforests but, hey, you can just grow another one! Sorta like SUV ads that promote getting back to nature while you in fact destroy it... "How Dare They.org http://www.howdarethey.org New site that challenges wartime profiteering by corporations. Includes a handy form for writing your government representatives. "School Sells Naming Rights to Gym" http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011116/bs/gym_sponsor_2.html
