AdCouncil PSAs

[Greg Newby]

Holy fuck, I can't believe these new TV PSAs from the
AdCouncil:

http://www.adcouncil.org/campaigns/campaign_for_freedom

I thought they were going to be rah-rah patriotic and stuff.  In fact,
they use scare tactics -- way beyond "this is your brain on drugs."
I think these are to urge conformity and quell dissent, not celebrate
freedom.

Check out the "library," "church," "arrest" & "diner" PSAs especially.
>From the PSA's descriptive text, "This first round of PSAs for the
campaign has been created to celebrate our nation's freedom and remind
Americans about the importance of freedom and the need to protect it
for future generations."

In fact, though, that's not the message I saw at all.  The message I
saw was scenes from one step -- a baby step -- beyond where we are
now: reduced freedoms, neighbors monitoring and distrusting each
other, overzealous and barely constrained law enforcement.  Fear.

The Web page says the PSAs are designed based on market research to
"assist Americans during the war on terrorism."  I don't understand
why they used scare tactics in these but the outcome, for me, is a
different interpretation of the PSA's tag-lines, "Freedom. Appreciate
it. Cherish it. Protect it."

What I hear is "what you have IS freedom, despite how it appears.
See, we can show you how much worse it could be."

Whew....Greg

PS: I did a search in their calendar to see when these are supposed to
air.  Result: "'freedom' not found."