General Kafka

Angels and ministers of grace defend us! Based on market surveys and numerous focus groups with dead Iraqis, Our Troops^TM will now shift their emphasis from Shock and Awe^(R) and Show of Force^{(Patent Pending)} to Who's Your Uncle?^(C).

Iraq has become a theater of the absurd: Book by Kafka, music and lyrics by Tinkerbell.

The Pentagon Gets a Lesson From Madison Avenue - washingtonpost.com

In the advertising world, brand identity is everything. Volvo means safety. Colgate means clean. IPod means cool. But since the U.S. military invaded Iraq in 2003, its "show of force" brand has proved to have limited appeal to Iraqi consumers, according to a recent study commissioned by the U.S. military.

The key to boosting the image and effectiveness of U.S. military operations around the world involves "shaping" both the product and the marketplace, and then establishing a brand identity that places what you are selling in a positive light, said clinical psychologist Todd C. Helmus, the author of "Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operation." The 211-page study, for which the U.S. Joint Forces Command paid the Rand Corp. $400,000, was released this week.

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