The thing about the US military is that it has successfully integrated the concept of patriotism with the industrial military complex.
It does this through a very simple slogan of 'Support the Troops'. If you support the troops, you by extension support the generals, politicians and companies that cumulative comprise the 'war machine' that is the US military.
For people to psychologically turn their back on the industrial military complex they feel as though they are turning their backs on the troops and by extension their very country.
Yet, one has to ask, despite it's incredibly strong brand as described above, just how much can the military's brand take before it is damaged beyond repair?
We've had Abu Ghraib.
We've had the soldier that attacked women and children in Afghanistan.
We've had a recent story on how most soldiers are psychotropic drugs to deal with depression and other disorders.
And now, perhaps worst of all, a video has been leaked of Blackwater soldiers (these are private soldiers that the army contracts) behaving atrociously.
[warning: disturbing images in this video]
From a brand perspective, the US military has really pushed its luck engaging in a 10-year war. While much of the public still stands behind the military, these kinds of videos have got to be damaging in terms of public opinion.
It's very hard to position yourself as liberators when videos such as this show troops engaged in horrendous behavior towards the (non combative) civilian population.
When this is all over (the wars that is), I suspect the military will have to engage in a massive and prolonged PR campaign to regain the trust and respect of the public. Their only other alternative is to keep their current campaign of fear going - we are your protectors, the terrorists will kill you if we don't defend you. And let us hope that message doesn't last for the next 20 years, because it's not a healthy state for a society to exist in.
It does this through a very simple slogan of 'Support the Troops'. If you support the troops, you by extension support the generals, politicians and companies that cumulative comprise the 'war machine' that is the US military.
For people to psychologically turn their back on the industrial military complex they feel as though they are turning their backs on the troops and by extension their very country.
Yet, one has to ask, despite it's incredibly strong brand as described above, just how much can the military's brand take before it is damaged beyond repair?
We've had Abu Ghraib.
We've had the soldier that attacked women and children in Afghanistan.
We've had a recent story on how most soldiers are psychotropic drugs to deal with depression and other disorders.
And now, perhaps worst of all, a video has been leaked of Blackwater soldiers (these are private soldiers that the army contracts) behaving atrociously.
[warning: disturbing images in this video]
From a brand perspective, the US military has really pushed its luck engaging in a 10-year war. While much of the public still stands behind the military, these kinds of videos have got to be damaging in terms of public opinion.
It's very hard to position yourself as liberators when videos such as this show troops engaged in horrendous behavior towards the (non combative) civilian population.
When this is all over (the wars that is), I suspect the military will have to engage in a massive and prolonged PR campaign to regain the trust and respect of the public. Their only other alternative is to keep their current campaign of fear going - we are your protectors, the terrorists will kill you if we don't defend you. And let us hope that message doesn't last for the next 20 years, because it's not a healthy state for a society to exist in.
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