What do you think when you hear the word “America”?...
"...The Statue of Liberty, or despicable images of torture? The core cultural values of the US brand - optimism and democracy - are eroding with the reverberating damage of the prison pictures. Commentators are saying it will take “50 years” to rebuild goodwill, but Brand America was already in trouble. “Hostility towards America has reached shocking levels,” a panel appointed by George Bush said in September last year. Opinion polls from the Pew Research Center this March confirmed that US image was poor in both Western and Muslim countries.
Who’s going to save it? Not the Bush administration that, according to former State Department official Cari Eggspuehler, is “not a credible messenger . . . the rest of the world sees its [words] as propaganda.” Communication skills are, she snorts, “lost on the federal government.” That may explain the recent resignation of Margaret Tutwiler, who was in charge of overhauling public diplomacy efforts at State, following two other resignations in the same area last year. Her job will not be filled until well into 2005, demonstrating how much Team Bush cares about the US image.
Enter the private sector and the “Task Force to Mobilize American Business for Public Diplomacy,” for which Eggspuehler is now executive director. (They ditched government involvement after a power struggle between State and the White House over direction.) The project, she says, is about “reducing anti-US sentiment.” Asking foreign nationals for their views on the US - at State you never got to do that, she said - gave them four areas to think about. There was foreign policy, the negative impact of globalization, the pervasiveness of US culture, and “our collective personality . . . we are seen as arrogant and not listening.” One region described Americans as being “very amoral and too materialistic.” Yes, it was the Middle East.
To counter these problems - “the root causes . . . not PR spin, that’s not going to change what people see on TV” - Eggspuehler wants to see Americans being “sensitized,” increased newspaper readership, and a public and media that “pay attention” to the issues. It’s like hearing Oprah explain Media Carta. At some point down the line Eggspuehler’s task force wants to organize a day for CEOs to answer concerns and complaints broadcast from around the world. The event’s working title? “The Day America Listens.”
But check that title again and what it means: business = America. As President Calvin Coolidge famously said, “the business of America is business.” These companies are worried that the continuing hatred of the US abroad will affect their bottom line.
And they recognize that US outreach, and explanation of its values, helps protect national security. But their focus is still on the future, and the damage is being done now. A global survey by NOP World in early 2004 found that 10 percent fewer consumers used US brands compared with a year earlier. Non-American brand use remained stable. Only 31 percent of German consumers thought honesty was an American cultural attribute and in Saudi Arabia, the figure is just 23 percent.
America is more widely loathed abroad than at any time since the Vietnam war, if not ever, and its ratings are still sinking like a stone. In the words of an Australian advertising executive: “America’s reputation may be so badly soiled that a rebranding exercise may be required. Rebuilding respect and affection for a brand called USA may be too hard. A brand called South Canada, on the other hand, has potential.”
From issue #54 of Adbusters magazine.”
Who’s going to save it? Not the Bush administration that, according to former State Department official Cari Eggspuehler, is “not a credible messenger . . . the rest of the world sees its [words] as propaganda.” Communication skills are, she snorts, “lost on the federal government.” That may explain the recent resignation of Margaret Tutwiler, who was in charge of overhauling public diplomacy efforts at State, following two other resignations in the same area last year. Her job will not be filled until well into 2005, demonstrating how much Team Bush cares about the US image.
Enter the private sector and the “Task Force to Mobilize American Business for Public Diplomacy,” for which Eggspuehler is now executive director. (They ditched government involvement after a power struggle between State and the White House over direction.) The project, she says, is about “reducing anti-US sentiment.” Asking foreign nationals for their views on the US - at State you never got to do that, she said - gave them four areas to think about. There was foreign policy, the negative impact of globalization, the pervasiveness of US culture, and “our collective personality . . . we are seen as arrogant and not listening.” One region described Americans as being “very amoral and too materialistic.” Yes, it was the Middle East.
To counter these problems - “the root causes . . . not PR spin, that’s not going to change what people see on TV” - Eggspuehler wants to see Americans being “sensitized,” increased newspaper readership, and a public and media that “pay attention” to the issues. It’s like hearing Oprah explain Media Carta. At some point down the line Eggspuehler’s task force wants to organize a day for CEOs to answer concerns and complaints broadcast from around the world. The event’s working title? “The Day America Listens.”
But check that title again and what it means: business = America. As President Calvin Coolidge famously said, “the business of America is business.” These companies are worried that the continuing hatred of the US abroad will affect their bottom line.
And they recognize that US outreach, and explanation of its values, helps protect national security. But their focus is still on the future, and the damage is being done now. A global survey by NOP World in early 2004 found that 10 percent fewer consumers used US brands compared with a year earlier. Non-American brand use remained stable. Only 31 percent of German consumers thought honesty was an American cultural attribute and in Saudi Arabia, the figure is just 23 percent.
America is more widely loathed abroad than at any time since the Vietnam war, if not ever, and its ratings are still sinking like a stone. In the words of an Australian advertising executive: “America’s reputation may be so badly soiled that a rebranding exercise may be required. Rebuilding respect and affection for a brand called USA may be too hard. A brand called South Canada, on the other hand, has potential.”
From issue #54 of Adbusters magazine.”