Karen Hughes Sells Brand America - She's supposed to market Bush policies to the Muslim world. Good luck! By Fred�Kaplan

Generally I’m in favor of this “national PR” approach (see the post on Canada earlier.) But to in effect “sell” a country in a region where that country may not be popular requires I think PR, rather than publicity.

Let me explain:
Publicity demands a more emotional response. You want the audience to like you, and to have empathy for you. I don’t think this is the approach the US should take in the Muslim world. Maybe someday in the future it will be, but not now.

At the moment, what is required is PR, that is to say an effort to gain an analytical, emotional response. We want people to understand and respect us. They may not like us or our way of life, but we need them to understand America’s relevance in the world.

Telling people how nice we are ain’t going to cut it. Telling people how important we are and that they should respect our democratic principles, even if they don’t fall in love with our consumerist society is the key message.



Karen Hughes Sells Brand America - She's supposed to market Bush policies to the Muslim world. Good luck! By Fred Kaplan