Nbadan
11-24-2004, 05:12 AM
Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 at 11:46:32 PST
There's two reactions to have to this story (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1521&ncid=1505&e=3&u=/afp/20041123/pl_afp/us_un_republican_expel_041123081407) about a right-wing group supposedly launching an advertising campaign calling for the UN to be expelled from it's NYC headquarters for being an "apologist and defender of terrorist organizations." First, they're a bunch of loons. But it's also worth examining what else they're up to, and how they're using the press to help them achieve their aims.
A right-wing Republican group launched a television campaign calling for the United Nations to be kicked out of the United States, alleging the world body is a "safe harbor" for terrorism.
California-based Move America Forward wants the world body's New York headquarters shut down and its officials expelled from the country because it failed to support the US-led war on Iraq.
"The UN has become an apologist and defender of terrorist organizations and their agents," claims a 60-second commercial, which also cites the oil for food scandal involving alleged fraud in Iraqi oil sales.
The spot, which backs a "Get the UN out of the US" petition drive, claimed that "billions of dollars" intended for UN humanitarian aid was used to pay the families of "Palestinian terrorists" and to buy weapons for Iraq-based terrorists...
The advertisement, which Move America Forward officials said would begin airing nationally next week, calls for Americans to sign a petition calling for the United Nations to be booted off US soil.
OK, scoff at them for essentially saying the entire world is a "terrorist organization, but don't spend much time thinking about the leaps of logic one would have to make to connect their accusations. What's worth considering here is what they're trying to achieve. Anyone with a brain knows that the UN isn't going anywhere. [After all, I'll bet some tri-state Republicans might put up a little squawk about losing one of the largest employers and revenue generators in the entire region.] They're not going to get rid of the UN, so why run the ads? (If they're even running any ads; there's nothing in the article to indicate they've bought any air time, and where the ads will supposedly run.) No, this story isn't about the ads or getting rid of the UN, it's about building lists.
If Move America Forward (MAF) sounds familiar, it should, for it's the creation of the Republican PR and media firm, Russo, Marsh and Rogers. Under the banner of MAF, Russo, Marsh and Rogers were the clowns behind the boycott of Fahrenheit 911 (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/6/22/174912/259) and the successful effort to pressure CBS into not airing (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2003/11/5/45410/1837/) "The Reagans." So far this story seems to have not yet attracted the same attention as its earlier efforts, probably because the chances of affecting the change they're ostensibly after are nil.
But note I said "ostensibly." Russo, Marsh and Rogers isn't interested in expelling the UN from NYC, it's probably only interested in building a valuable database. Sure, maybe they'll try to get a little money to run the ads in a market or two, but they're probably not going to spend real money, maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars. (Especially not for a 60 second ad.) But they floated the story out to the press, who's reported on the "ad campaign," thus giving it more attention through free media than it would ever have gotten through paid advertising. (And so you know, this method didn't just start with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth; probably the most famous political ad in history was LBJ's "daisy ad" against Goldwater, and it only ran once.)
Then, the attention gins up traffic to the MAF website, mostly from people mad about the UN, black helicopters, the Freemasons, gay marriage, and fluoridation, in which a "foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual...That's the way your hard-core Commie works." Then, the PR firm gets thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of people to this page (http://www.moveamericaforward.org/?Page=Petition), where they "sign" a petition, but also provide phone numbers and home and email addresses. This gives the PR firm names and partial ideological profiles that they can bump up against consumer data bases, voter files, donor lists and the like to build a profile of likely conservative voters, activists and donors.
Ironic, isn't it? Some of the people most paranoid about big government volunteer their name and personal information to a front group for a PR firm, and that info is used by data miners to create detailed psycho/demographic profiles that will be valuable to marketers, private investigators and political operatives looking for the most effective and efficient way to engage in mass persuasion.
There's two reactions to have to this story (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1521&ncid=1505&e=3&u=/afp/20041123/pl_afp/us_un_republican_expel_041123081407) about a right-wing group supposedly launching an advertising campaign calling for the UN to be expelled from it's NYC headquarters for being an "apologist and defender of terrorist organizations." First, they're a bunch of loons. But it's also worth examining what else they're up to, and how they're using the press to help them achieve their aims.
A right-wing Republican group launched a television campaign calling for the United Nations to be kicked out of the United States, alleging the world body is a "safe harbor" for terrorism.
California-based Move America Forward wants the world body's New York headquarters shut down and its officials expelled from the country because it failed to support the US-led war on Iraq.
"The UN has become an apologist and defender of terrorist organizations and their agents," claims a 60-second commercial, which also cites the oil for food scandal involving alleged fraud in Iraqi oil sales.
The spot, which backs a "Get the UN out of the US" petition drive, claimed that "billions of dollars" intended for UN humanitarian aid was used to pay the families of "Palestinian terrorists" and to buy weapons for Iraq-based terrorists...
The advertisement, which Move America Forward officials said would begin airing nationally next week, calls for Americans to sign a petition calling for the United Nations to be booted off US soil.
OK, scoff at them for essentially saying the entire world is a "terrorist organization, but don't spend much time thinking about the leaps of logic one would have to make to connect their accusations. What's worth considering here is what they're trying to achieve. Anyone with a brain knows that the UN isn't going anywhere. [After all, I'll bet some tri-state Republicans might put up a little squawk about losing one of the largest employers and revenue generators in the entire region.] They're not going to get rid of the UN, so why run the ads? (If they're even running any ads; there's nothing in the article to indicate they've bought any air time, and where the ads will supposedly run.) No, this story isn't about the ads or getting rid of the UN, it's about building lists.
If Move America Forward (MAF) sounds familiar, it should, for it's the creation of the Republican PR and media firm, Russo, Marsh and Rogers. Under the banner of MAF, Russo, Marsh and Rogers were the clowns behind the boycott of Fahrenheit 911 (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/6/22/174912/259) and the successful effort to pressure CBS into not airing (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2003/11/5/45410/1837/) "The Reagans." So far this story seems to have not yet attracted the same attention as its earlier efforts, probably because the chances of affecting the change they're ostensibly after are nil.
But note I said "ostensibly." Russo, Marsh and Rogers isn't interested in expelling the UN from NYC, it's probably only interested in building a valuable database. Sure, maybe they'll try to get a little money to run the ads in a market or two, but they're probably not going to spend real money, maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars. (Especially not for a 60 second ad.) But they floated the story out to the press, who's reported on the "ad campaign," thus giving it more attention through free media than it would ever have gotten through paid advertising. (And so you know, this method didn't just start with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth; probably the most famous political ad in history was LBJ's "daisy ad" against Goldwater, and it only ran once.)
Then, the attention gins up traffic to the MAF website, mostly from people mad about the UN, black helicopters, the Freemasons, gay marriage, and fluoridation, in which a "foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual...That's the way your hard-core Commie works." Then, the PR firm gets thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of people to this page (http://www.moveamericaforward.org/?Page=Petition), where they "sign" a petition, but also provide phone numbers and home and email addresses. This gives the PR firm names and partial ideological profiles that they can bump up against consumer data bases, voter files, donor lists and the like to build a profile of likely conservative voters, activists and donors.
Ironic, isn't it? Some of the people most paranoid about big government volunteer their name and personal information to a front group for a PR firm, and that info is used by data miners to create detailed psycho/demographic profiles that will be valuable to marketers, private investigators and political operatives looking for the most effective and efficient way to engage in mass persuasion.