Advertising Industry Should Market America to the Islamic World :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

The American Advertising Industry Should Market America to the Islamic World The real power in the world today is not in the western technology, economy or military. Rather it is in images and their use in a system of communication called symbolism. In effect, the real power of the world today is in the symbolism of western culture. It is this power which threatens the religion of Islam. The power of the western world to create and communicate this symbolism to other parts of the world, and particularly the middle eastern world of the Islamic religion, is at the root of the problem the Judeo-Christian west faces with the Islamic middle east. If one accepts the hypothesis that symbolism might be at the root of the problem, it seems important to understand 1) the basic messages of this symbolism and 2) whether these messages might be manipulated or â€Å"recruitedâ€Å" as â€Å"warriorsâ€Å" in the coming battle. Certainly the western world has been adept at directing its symbols mainly inward towards western culture in the form of propaganda and the persuasion of our advertising into a consumer culture. American consumer culture was created by the application and manipulation of these symbols. Emerging questions of today are 1) whether Americans can come to see coming events of the world in a symbolic context and 2) whether this knowledge of symbolic context will help them direct their symbol making powers outward rather than inward. Right now, America's symbol making powers are directed inward at persuasion and propaganda of the populace. Anyone who doubts this simply needs to push the button to CNN for about an hour. But, might it be directed outward towards propaganda of the western civilization into the Islamic culture? We might say that it is not right to use propaganda to achieve goals. Yet, there is a vast amount of evidence that America's enemies use many forms of propaganda against America. If our enemies can use propaganda against America, why shouldn't America enlist its greatest propaganda machines in Hollywood and Madison Avenue in the great coming battle? Of course we do this on a simple Coke or McDonalds type of global expansion philosophy for American brands and the unrelenting promotion of that rather ambiguous beehive archetype symbol of ideas and emotions called â€Å"globalism.â€Å" But here I mean more of a â€Å"kick assâ€Å" Marine philosophy of putting Madison Avenue and Hollywood into the coming war that CNN constantly advertises to us in a ubiquitous logo.