Cause War Is Like TOTALLY COOL!!!
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Discuss, Media, War
This is an actual ad that pops up when you visit Newsmax.com. This is NOT a joke.
However…this is a joke: “You mean, I can play soldier too? Wicked!!! I’ll take like a dozen for me and my conservative-news-loving posse! Support our troops! Yeah!!!”
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 11th, 2006 and is filed under Discuss, Media, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 12th, 2006 at 4:55 am
Oh, for chissakes it’s just a hat.
I wore a World War II-era Navy pea coat that I bought at the Army Navy store all through junior high and high school. Sturdiest thing I ever owned, and it still had the sailor’s name and ship (U.S.S. Houston, if I remember it right) inked on the ID tag in the inside pocket. I wore it till the lining was in shreds and I’d have re-lined it if I could find a needle thick enough to puncture the fabric.
Military stuff tends to be well designed and made to last.
My son waers a BRD Army surplus jacket all winter, complete with the shoulder patch flag. Guess that makes him part of “me and my conservative-news-loving posse.” No, wait, that can’t be right because the Krauts aren’t fighting this one.
That’s just patently offensive horseshit. Or do you get all loud on your lefty buddies over their Che T-shirts, too?
May 12th, 2006 at 6:31 am
That’s one reason I seldom read Newsmax.
May 12th, 2006 at 6:55 am
I agree to a point with Cal, The stuff is great to wear. I wore my brothers camos in the 60’s & 70’s (older brother, wore em mostly cause he was my brother and when they fit… they fit.)
In Justins defense however, I find the four smiling faces almost eerily related to a “Survivor” type branding /marketing feel. I may be wrong on this, but I don’t recall “fashion” items being marketed during a currently fought war. A lot of people may find that it demeans the treasure and lives lost. Others may feel its only in bad taste. others may have no problem. I believe it is only a hat. I also believe that the ad is pretty tasteless. I don’t think it’s “horeshit” to find the marketing of war fashion tasteless.
I can tell you that there was some consternation over the Che posters from the right during the 60’s & 70’s. Possibly the outcry at that time was because Che was more recent and relevent. Maybe it was a taste issue. Maybe it was the marketing. Maybe it was that the poster represented a position that the right was uncomfortable with. I do know that being called a “Commie” or “UnAmerican” etc. was’nt “horseshit” either.
May 12th, 2006 at 8:25 am
I don’t get it… The ad looks like it’s trying to appeal to the viewer’s patriotism by using the Iraq war angle as a selling point (in which case it makes perfect sense to advertise on sites like NewsMax), but there’s nothing intrinsically patriotic about what they’re selling. Indeed, the hat reminds me more of Steve Irwin the “Crocodile Hunter” than of U.S. soldiers (and Irwin’s not even American, but Aussie).
May 12th, 2006 at 8:38 am
I like it when posts degenerate like this — an entropic logic marked with bitter sarcasm, displaying the true feelings of the commentator. One can only “hold it in” for so long before causing some type of emotional hemorage.
They look like good fishing hats to me, but then again, I’m kind of a fan of the military. I like it when Airforce jets buzz the stadium at NFL & MLB games, too, during the National Anthem — cause, well, war is like totally cool & so too is like freedom.
May 12th, 2006 at 9:38 am
I stil have my Army issue “Boonie hat” though it’s in upper woodland camouflage, not desert. I decorated it with an attractive pin… from an M67 frag grenade.
Overall, though, I prefer my New Zealand fishing hat with cape at the back and foam in the crown. Really keeps the heat off!
May 12th, 2006 at 10:03 am
Patently offensive? Jeezus…you should know very well I’m not talking about EVERYBODY who wears any army gear. I’m talking about this ad and its weird juxtaposition of the soldiers in the picture who are frowning and the smiling, fun-loving crew who’s having a great time wearing their new hats. It is a very STRANGE ad.
And yes Cal, the Ché shirts and posters are tired as well, and I’ve given people grief about them. But until you start doing posts that include both sides of something every single time, why call me out on this? Was it patently offensive to call Democrats out on that children’s book with squirrels teaching the principles of the Democratic party? Oh, but that’s different, right?
To your point about army stuff being well made and built to last, agreed. THAT’s a good selling point. And as a marketing guy, that’s how you should sell something like this. Not with a group of attractive 20 somethings beaming that they just got their hat so they can go sit on the beach. It speaks to a particular cluelessness on Newsmax’s part. Consider the verbiage. “Combat” troops. The use of the words “in Iraq”. It’s not like they’re saying that this is an Army issue hat. They’re pointing specifically to combat conditions where men and women are dying. The underlying message in the ad is that war is cool, which has no business in any piece of advertising. So if anything is patently offensive here, it’s the marketer’s intent.
DP, freedom is cool, but war is hell. Just talk to my grandfather sometime. He’ll tell you.
May 12th, 2006 at 10:47 am
Callimachus is right. The army has some good stuff. I used to have a great army hat which I am still *&##ed about losing during a move a few years back.
Having said that, I agree with Justin. This ad leaves a bad taste in my mouth. In my mind, it isn’t right to use a picture of troops in a combat zone as an advertising gimmick.
May 12th, 2006 at 10:58 am
A close relative of mine use to be the managing editor of Soldier of Fortune magazine (late ’90’s). He was actual hired to mainstream the mag., but got constant resistance from the insane founder, Col. Brown. Anyway, this isn’t much of anything compared the ads that run SOF or other Paladin Press publications. There unquestionably is a line of good taste — I would suggest that a combat boot ad showing a soldier with the heal of his boot pressing down on the neck of a Taliban villager might cross the line —- BUT THEN AGAIN I MIGHT BUY THE BOOT.
May 12th, 2006 at 11:14 am
I still wear my cut-off BDU trousers when I do yardwork, and when it’s rough work, I throw on my jungle boots. Some slightly chilly spring and autumn nights, my desert parka is just the right thing. I love air shows, flyovers, and basically any trappings of the military. I still get a lump in my throat when the national anthem plays, and I’m a vet.
Although I’m okay with that ad in principle, I think it’s puerile and just kinda’ tacky. If I were selling that product, I wouldn’t advertise it this way. It’s kind of insulting to my intelligence in the same way those YELLING CAR DEALERSHIP commercials are.
May 12th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
That ad is surreal. The happy sun tan folks in the front with smiley faces looking like they just came out of an Old Navy ad juxtaposed with our troops in the back who can at any moment, be killed in any number of ways.
I’m with the blogger. That’s just a freaky ad.
May 12th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
Haha! You don’t say!
DP, you know quite well that making an argument of “Well, this bad thing isn’t NEARLY as bad as this wretchedly horrible thing” is intellectually dishonest. But I guess when all else fails…
May 12th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
This ad is a bit weird, but so is any commericial where the product seemingly makes the user insanely happy. “HATS! HATS! WE HAVE HATS!!! THis is the greatest day of my whole godforesaken life!!!”
Also, I have to point out that I think it’s funny when Justin calls Dos Peros “DP.”
May 12th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
It really wasn’t so much of an argument as an observation. Like here is another observation: Don’t our troop where helmets?? — what are they doing walking around in Iraq like their on the beach at Padre Island — no wonder the casualty rate is getting up there.
May 12th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
I don’t even know what “Newsmax” is.
May 12th, 2006 at 6:04 pm
ITEMS NEEDED:
5lb. BAG SUGAR
1 ROLL DUCK TAPE
1 BELT WITH FASTENER
1 DESERT BOONIE SYTLE CAP
Tape bag securly to middle of belt. Place bag on head. Fasten belt under chin. You must wear this device at any point you find yourself outside or driving in vehicles. After 1 week, take out Boonie style hat and place next to sugar sack device near exit door. Record which headgear you choose.
May 12th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
Tacky ad … Justin is right … Military issue gear is sturdy …. Cal is right … Newsmax sucks for running an ad for profit at the expense of dead soldiers, during a war …. wanna go to the beach? Buy a swimsuit.
Now, as to marketing … pick a garment … market as a suppport the troops (no matter what you think about the war) and I’ll take a dozen.
May 13th, 2006 at 12:38 am
Well, you should get acquainted. You probably won’t like them.