War Is Sold Just Like Soda or Toothpaste

War Is Sold Just Like Soda or Toothpaste

Washington's Blog
November 3, 2010

White House chief of Staff Andrew Card famously said - in explaining why the Bush administration delayed until September 2002 to make its case for war in Iraq:

From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August.

War is - indeed - marketed just like soda or toothpaste.

In fact, the government hired some of the top public relations experts to sell the Iraq and other wars. See this and this.

As the head of Santa Clara University's Center for Applied Ethics wrote in 2003:

Am I the only one who's queasy that the Bush Administration has quite publicly announced plans to sell us on war with Iraq the same way a soda pop company might hype a new soft drink?

Everyone knows that truth is the first casualty of war.

Countries need to lie about their enemies in order to demonize them sufficiently so that the people will support the war.

Continued. . .