Stirring up opinions

Joseph Tuman, Rhetoric and
communications professor at San Francisco State University, comments
in an interview about the Bush administration's advertising strategies. WW: Has the amount of money the Bush administration spends on advertising and PR ever been so high?
Tuman: She is definitely
case far higher than in his first term of office and also compared
with the Clinton administration. The ironic thing is that they
Use taxpayers' money to keep the same taxpayers from
measures that are unpopular. Compared with the
overall government budget, this is a drop in the ocean,
but I don't know of any company in the business world that spends that much money.
is spent on advertising.  

WW: In your opinion, are these advertising measures effective?
Tuman: Man
must bear in mind that some of this money is not only invested in television advertising.
and PR measures, but also in strategic consulting.
A strategy that has been used in many cases in the USA for political
campaigns is to design the advertising in such a way that it
a certain opinion that already exists in the population,
reinforced by the advertising message. This seems particularly good at the moment
to function in the domestic NSA affair, in which the
President is accused of illegally harboring American citizens
were intercepted. Most Americans believe that security is a
is a particularly important issue. So Bush emphasizes this in his speeches
aspect, instead of apologizing for the fact that he may have
has acted illegally. And it seems to be working.

WW: How credible do you think the advertising measures used to positively influence the Arab world are?
Tuman: We
tend to overestimate the hostility we encounter there.
underestimate. Radio and television broadcasters who support the US stance
Arab media such as al-Jazeera are confronted with this, and the
have a credibility that the US efforts cannot compete with.
can keep up.

Interview: Gerti Schön