Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA AND THE GWOT Year 3 - 2004 (mainly Iraq)
America needs to listen to sentiment abroad by Ted Pincus 
America needs to listen to sentiment abroad Chicago Sun Times, January 27, 2004 BY TED PINCUS What if the epidemic of anti-American sentiment abroad not only threatens our security and alliances but also the ability of American companies to compete in world markets? It hasn't happened yet, but the risk is real, along with rising costs of security, boycotts and danger to facilities and personnel. Surveys in recent months have shown enormous erosion of positive attitudes toward America. In Britain, a "favorable view of the U.S." declined to 70 percent from 83 percent, in Brazil to 34 percent from 56 percent, in France to 43 percent from 62 percent, in Morocco to 27 percent from 77 percent and in Turkey to 15 percent from 52 percent. Many communications professionals like DDB Worldwide Chairman Keith Reinhard think that to change attitudes abroad, we must also change some at home. A DDB survey of representative Americans found almost 25 percent of those surveyed reacted angrily when presented with the facts. Typical comments: "They're always going to stereotype us" or "I'm a diehard American. These other countries are chicken crap. Who's going to take us on?" or "We open our doors to everyone. We give aid to other countries, and then they trash-mouth us like that. What would happen to these people if we pulled our support?" Antipathy resonates The antipathy is beginning to resonate. And although we're locked in a war of ideas, it's a war that our government has yet to begin fighting. The Clinton administration and Congress emasculated the U.S. Information Agency, the goodwill-building arm of the nation, which I was privileged to serve as an adviser. Then the Bush administration virtually stymied the market-America ideas of award-winning adwoman Char-lotte Beers during her short-lived tenure as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. The president simply hasn't followed through on his statement given in reaction to 9/11: "I'm amazed that there is such misunderstanding of what our country is about, and that people would hate us. I am like most Americans: I just can't believe it. Because I know how good we are, and we've got to do a better job of making our case." Because the federal government hasn't, the private sector has decided to do it. DDB's Reinhard, who coined the memorable ad themes of McDonald's, State Farm Insurance and others and who helped engineer the formation of Omnicom as the world's largest communications group, has spearheaded a task force of ad and PR professionals to help modify attitudes at home and abroad. Labeled Business for Diplomatic Action, the movement has assembled a board that includes Saatchi & Saatchi Vice Chairman Tim Love, Grey Worldwide President Steve Blamer and academic advisers such as Joseph Nye, dean of Harvard's JFK School of Government; Jeffrey Garten, dean of Yale's School of Management, and Nick Imparato of Stanford's Hoover Institute. BDA membership has now grown to more than 150 top communicators and educators, including chief marketing executives of multinational corporations representing some of the major global brands. Impetus will surely be gained from a major symposium Feb. 23 at Yale, when more than 100 faculty, staff and student spokesmen will examine a variety of BDA ideas for bridging the cultural divide. This will then be refined and presented to 30 Fortune 500 CEO's gathered at New York's Four Seasons restaurant in mid-April, inspiring the needed financial support, Reinhard hopes. "We envision a new brand of diplomacy," he said, "one based on listening first, then acting, and only then communicating." Projects under way Prime project examples include: a public diplomacy portal -- a virtual warehouse of best practices, and a stream of publications starting with a Citizen's Guide to sensitize Americans to many of the root causes of negative sentiments abroad and prescriptions for improving traveler behavior and communications. A classic step planned for this June is "The Day America Listened." Reinhard describes: "Imagine 100 CEO's gathered in New York with a feed to 60 remote global locations where people give us their perspectives on American culture and behavior, and for the entire day the CEO's don't say a word -- just listen. That's my dream." (For further information about BDA: contact Executive Director Cari Eggspuehler at cari.eggspuehler@sf.ddb.com) Ted Pincus is the former chairman/CEO of the Financial Relations Board and former vice-chairman of BSMG Worldwide. He is an adjunct profess at DePaul, and is an independent consultant and journalist. |