Iraq hurts 'America' brand in advertisers' eyes

[RamblingRose]

(mods, not sure if this is LBN, but shows how America is viewed by rest of the world)

During the 2000 Summer Olympics, the "America" brand was as golden to advertisers as the medals the nation's winning athletes wore over their red, white and blue jackets.

But in 2004, that brand has become a liability.

The war in Iraq has made the country a lot less popular around the world and is forcing Madison Avenue to downplay American imagery in advertising, experts on Olympic marketing say.

Instead of ads portraying America as the land of winners, Doug Wood, general counsel to the Association of National Advertisers and the Advertising Research Foundation, is seeing advertisements that are more generic.

<snip>

"Clearly, what we are seeing are Olympic ads that are about the product, not about the politics," said Wood, who also reviews ads from more than 100 agencies for Reed Smith Hall Dickler, a New York advertising firm. "Before, it was always U.S. this, U.S. that. But not now."

...


http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/0804/11olyads.html
(registration required)

[ixion]

1. advertising is the least of the issue... and more of a symptom of a

greater ill will, generated exclusively by BushCo.

Thanks, BushCo, for destroying two centuries of diplomacy in four short years. :-(

[leesa]

2. Good. Maybe America's arrogance and self-pride are on the wane.

[Nambe]

3. Ask Boeing how things are going overseas.

Airbus can hardly keep the pace since the dimson show began. And that's the tip of the iceburg.