A Veterans Day Rant

Exploiting the sacrifices of soldiers for commercial purposes is as low as one can get, this side of Don Draper writing an anti-tobacco ad a nano-second after his agency lost its cigarette account. Yet this is exactly what MillerCoors and JCPenney are doing as reported in this blog by Stuart Elliott in The New York Times . Stuart and the Times should have stayed away from this tasteless manipulation and phony story, and actually hold these companies', and Madison Avenue, feet to the fire. How many companies, or agencies, actually did a meaningful thing for veterans today, like giving their staff the day off to work in a VA hospital? No matters what your political beliefs are, the vast majority of us don't sacrifice at all while the very few stand guard so we can sleep peacefully at night.

Instead of "celebrating" our soldiers, here is an amazing story about sacrifice and patriotism that appeared in AdWeek four years ago by and about two people that I greatly admire.

Comments

[TE]

Thanks for reminding us of Vann's story!

[cool Yanagigawa eyeglasses]

-cool Yanagigawa eyeglassesIdeal is the beacon. Without ideal , there is no secure direction ; without direction , there is no life .( Leo Tolstoy , Russian writer)