Expressions like "bail-out" imply failure and breakdown - the utter antithesis of the home-grown virtuous American dream of success and foresight.
Arguably from a branding perspective, President Bush's advisors could have come up with a clearer message of intent. Branding experts such as Andrew Bennett, chief executive of Euro RSCG - which claims to be the "largest global ad agency as measured by total number of accounts" - have suggested that the White House should have simplified the president's message.
Others in the marketing community believe that the $700bn proposal should have been sold to the American public in terms of an act of selfless heroism.
In such a case spin-doctors could have repackaged the emergency in the equivalent terms of a movie trailer, according the US National Media Group. The American people would have been presented the image of the kind yet tough New York firefighter daring to face the deadly backdraft - all to rescue the weakened economy from the roaring flames of recession.
We are all brand builders and consumers of brands. We watch the Superbowl for the ads. We welcome the next colossal national failure by critiquing the spin. Let us put brands aside and learn to deal in humiliating truths: that we have overspent our resources, that our polity has been stripped, that our future has been mortgaged, that our ecosystem is mortally sick. "We have art so that we might not die of the truth," wrote Nietzsche. Today brands serve that purpose better, though at a higher price.
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