From McGruff the Crime Dog to "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk", our generation knows the Ad Council as a fairly non-partisan organization which focuses on non-offensive social issues.
But did you know that the Ad Council was started during World War II as the "War Advertising Council"? Check out this column from a local newspaper about the strange history of the Ad Council.
The "Loose Lips Sink Ships" campaign discouraged Americans from talking about troop movements and other military matters, for fear that enemy spy devices could hear their conversations. One ad showed a mug shot of a smiling housewife with the words, "Wanted: For Murder! Her Careless Talk Cost Lives."
Read about the latest Ad Council campaign below the flip.
The most recent Ad Council campaign seems to indicate that the War Advertising Council has returned for the first time in more than 60 years. The Ad Council has paired up with the Army to create a campaign called "Boost Up" to encourage "at-risk" high school students to graduate from Hish School. Humanitarians with the best interest of our kids at heart? The United States Army - suddenly interested in a healthy well-educated society?
Enter 2001. Enter the never-ending War on Terror (TM) and unrelated War in Iraq (TM), both founded by Republican leadership in Washington. As a direct result, on stage for the first time in more than 60 years, please put your hands together and welcome back the "War Advertising Council."
As you may have already heard, the most recent Ad Council campaign is called "Boost Up," and its directed toward "at-risk" high school students. The commercials feature high school students discussing how they are helping friends stay in school until graduation. According to the campaign’s Web site, Boost Up is "a public service advertising campaign to motivate kids and demonstrate the importance of staying in school and obtaining a high school diploma."
Suddenly, after more than 60 years of peacetime ambivalence, the Army has decided it’s important for American kids to graduate from high school. That’s interesting. Either the Army has developed a sudden humanitarian passion for the positive future of children in this great land, or this campaign is directly related to an expectation for increased military recruiting needs. I’m leaning toward the latter possibility.
Look, encouraging kids to graduate from high school is a positive thing, but this is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Imagine a recruiter helping a kid study for a final exam, driving them to the test, and picking them up afterward, forms in hand. That's essentially what this amounts to.
But specific limitations still exist regarding the percentage of Army enlistees with a GED. Ninety percent of all recruits must have a legitimate high school diploma, and only 10 percent can qualify with a GED. So, even under the Army Education Plus program, the Army needs large high school graduation rates - especially in targeted recruitment areas filled with "at-risk" students.
In recent weeks, the news headlines were filled with debate regarding the need to increase the size of the military. Some, including the president, have even floated the ill-advised proposal of increasing troop levels in Iraq.
Understanding this increasing wartime rhetoric and the associated personnel demands it would bring, the Army certainly needs to increase the size of its recruiting pool. But the Army and the Ad Council shouldn’t expect to push a marketing program on children without being called to the mat on the technique.
Check out the logo on the "Boost Up" web site. Bottom right. The campaign is following ten students through graduation... How many of those ten do you think will choose to enlist? 8 or 9? All 10?
It's clear that the War Advertising Council has returned, and we need to watch the progression of this organization very carefully. We've got enough propaganda on the airwaves without disguising it as a Public Service Announcement.