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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5311 Posts |
 Posted - 07/17/2002 : 04:32:13
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Media Sizzle for an Army of Fun
http://www.fair.org/media-beat/020711.html
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn
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Slater
SFN Regular
USA
1668 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 07:37:31 [Permalink]
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Yeah....so?
The Army has ads and Norman Solomon thinks it's strange that they put on their best face to be appealing to their target audience? Maybe he would like a Lexus ad that shows it stuck in a traffic jam?
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My business is to teach my aspirations to conform themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonize with my aspirations. ---Thomas Henry Huxley, 1860 |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5311 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 07:53:49 [Permalink]
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Maybe they can get Joe Camel. He was good at selling crap to kids!
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn |
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Boron10
Religion Moderator
USA
1266 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 08:14:44 [Permalink]
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I never understood the "Army of One" slogan: I thought the military was supposed to encourage teamwork?
Other than that, it is exceptional marketing, especially reducing weapons and killing into large toys and challenges.
-me. |
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Hook
Skeptic Friend
USA
79 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 08:49:35 [Permalink]
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quote:
I never understood the "Army of One" slogan: I thought the military was supposed to encourage teamwork?
Other than that, it is exceptional marketing, especially reducing weapons and killing into large toys and challenges.
-me.
Here is a more or less official explanation of the slogan.
http://world.webound.com/0308/article1011.html
It also has, I believe, a lot to do with the Army's changing mission profile and what is referred to as "Transformation." More and more will be done with Special Ops and small, light-weight, rapid deployment units going into very complex and dynamic situations. In such a context, each soldier has to be able to operate on their own, collect information and even make decisions.
I won't get into the debate about making war look more fun than it is (and more thechnilogically advanced than it is, but that's another story) other than to agree with Slater. Why shouldn't the Army be able to misrepresent things in its commercials like everyone else. I think your average beer commercial is more decietful for gullible youth than an Army recruitment ad.  
On the other hand, universal outrage at advertising for muisrepresentation and lies I'm down with. 
"There are no holy signs below the waist, folks!" Justin Green |
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 09:05:29 [Permalink]
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Not that it is any of my buisness (never having seen the add in question and not even being an American citizen), but should this advertisment be hold to the same standards as advertisments for everything else? Sure everyone lies in advertisments (to a certain degree), but there are usually limits. Some products get extra limitations. For example where I live, adds for medicine has to carry a disclaimer about consulting a doctor and adds for ciggaretts carry (in those media where they have not been banned outright) a warning about health risks.
Maybe they should give the army add a warning, that people can get killed in wars. Now that I think about, it is strange that nobody has tried to sue about the fact, that there was no such warning, yet.
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5311 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 09:05:36 [Permalink]
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I think it would be nice to hold the United States government to some kind of reasonable standard.
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn
Edited by - gorgo on 07/17/2002 10:29:43 |
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Mespo_man
Skeptic Friend
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 09:10:41 [Permalink]
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I wouldn't characterize my Navy experience as 100% fun, but DAMN, Gorgo, I had a helluva lot of firepower at my fingertips....all at taxpayer expense. There was a certain rush associated with the realization that you could blow something (someone) up legally. Intersting ports of call, too BTW.
(:raig |
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 09:21:08 [Permalink]
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quote:
Maybe they should give the army add a warning, that people can get killed in wars. Now that I think about, it is strange that nobody has tried to sue about the fact, that there was no such warning, yet.
I hope you're joking!
Anyone stupid enough to not know that joining the army can lead to battle, which can lead to death, doesn't deserve any sympathy, much less a law suit.
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You can tell she's hydrolic...
Her silver scream is supersonic
You can see the mercury smear in her eye... |
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Mespo_man
Skeptic Friend
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 09:28:38 [Permalink]
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quote:
Anyone stupid enough to not know that joining the army can lead to battle, which can lead to death, doesn't deserve any sympathy, much less a law suit. [tokyodreamer]
Your chances of getting killed in a training exercise were (are) MUCH greater than getting killed by hostile fire. The last thing one hears when playing with live ammo is "Oops".
They won't cover that aspect of military service in commercials, either.
(:raig |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5311 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 09:32:14 [Permalink]
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They're selling this to kids who think they're going to last forever.
They don't tell you who you're going to kill and why, either.
Tell them they're going to go kill peasants in some Central or South American Country to make sure that Coca-Cola or Chiquita or Disney has slaves.
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn |
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Piltdown
Skeptic Friend
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 12:21:56 [Permalink]
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quote:
They're selling this to kids who think they're going to last forever.
Generalized, condescending clairvoyance
quote:
They don't tell you who you're going to kill and why, either.
Oh, yes, they do, just not in this commercial. They deviate of course from your approved and (therefore infallible) version of their intentions, but you, alas, do not yet have the power to enforce conformity to your version of reality.
quote:
Tell them they're going to go kill peasants in some Central or South American Country to make sure that Coca-Cola or Chiquita or Disney has slaves.
Yes, we all know that the world media are conspiring with Bush to cover up the massive banana sweeps and daily massacres in
Central America that are primary mission of the US military. Where are the mass graves in Panama, btw? I've been offering for 12 years to PAY someone to go dig them up, and there are still no takers. Truth is, if the Army recruiters are going to use demonizing, slanderous rhetoric to stop all thought, why would they use the totalitarian opposition's and not their own?
You are deviating a long way from any reasonable standard of rational discourse with these inflammatory characterizations, Gorgo.
Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.
-Robert Lindner
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 12:31:42 [Permalink]
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"Anyone stupid enough to not knowthat joining the army can lead to battle, which can lead to death, doesn't deserve any sympathy, much less a law suit."
Hmm, yeah. Tokyo, you be right on, although in my 10 years of service, I saw many days that I'd liked to have sued somebody, starting with that fucker, Lyndon Johnson. Did you know that that rat-bastard tried to get me killed?! Thank Quetzacoatl I was disabled out before that other, even worse, rat-bastard, Nixon, could finish the job.
Of course the ads are aimed at kids. Only kids can do the job. How many 45 or 50 year old, enlisted personell have you met? There are not many. I went in at 17 and was out at 27. Most lifers retire at between 38 and 40 years of age. Only a few stay longer than 20 years. Since we now have an all volenteer service, the recruters have to snatch warm bodies where they can find them.
The illusion of immortality usually doesn't last all that long.
f
Evolution is such a simple idea, almost anyone can misunderstand it. -- Theodore Dobzhansky |
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 12:33:32 [Permalink]
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quote:
Your chances of getting killed in a training exercise were (are) MUCH greater than getting killed by hostile fire.
I wonder how those chances compare to high school football?
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You can tell she's hydrolic...
Her silver scream is supersonic
You can see the mercury smear in her eye... |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5311 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 12:37:10 [Permalink]
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What are you saying, since there are no mass graves evident, that there was no illegal invasion of Panama, and no one was killed in the process?
quote:
Where are the mass graves in Panama, btw?
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn |
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Mespo_man
Skeptic Friend
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2002 : 12:47:39 [Permalink]
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To answer your question, Tokyodreamer, here are the raw U.S. Army accident statistics. The one statistic that would probably be most relevant is the accident rate per 1000 Army personnel. Compare that with the injury rate per 1000 high school football players. It's probably safer to be in a hostile fire zone then out on the high school gridiron. 
http://asmis.army.mil/stats/prc_fy_army_stats
(:raig |
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