YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

There’s an opportunity in Washington for any marketer who likes an especially difficult challenge: Branding the war. Bloomberg.com is reporting that the Pentagon contracted with the Rand Corp. for ideas on how to better “sell” the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the American people. Rand came back with a study titled “Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operation,” an overview of what the government is doing wrong. The study, says Bloomberg, “…likened commercial marketing and the military's efforts to influence non-combatants, saying both are aimed at changing behavior. ‘Brands such as Starbucks and Apple have captured the hearts and minds of consumers and have reaped financial windfalls in return,’” the study concluded. (Visual: Massive eye-roll, accompanied by deep sigh.) Not surprisingly, the story concluded, “The Pentagon didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.”