Profs defend ads aired at Muslims overseas

By Rovert Evatt, Tulsa World
March 31, 2005

When television programming stops, advertisers break in and promote everything from automobile insurance to light beer.

But, for a brief time in 2002 and 2003, a series of spots in foreign countries pitched a product that had never been promoted in their TV ads -- conversations with American people.

Jami Fullerton, an associate professor of advertising at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, said the campaign was yanked after a month and labeled ineffective by political pundits.

But she and a Southern Methodist University professor, Alice Kendrick, felt that a closer examination was in order. After three test studies, they found that the government's ads can influence the opinions of Muslims in other countries.

"It wasn't a huge change, but it had an effect," Fullerton said.

The ads were made in 2002 when a former national advertising executive, Charlotte Beers, became the State Department's undersecretary of diplomacy and public affairs. Kendrick said the campaign was intended to improve the image of the United States in predominantly Muslim countries in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Carri Eggspuehler, who worked under Beers on the campaign, is now is the executive director of Business for Diplomatic Action, a group that encourages businesses to combat anti-American sentiment abroad. She said the task was daunting in light of the relatively small budget of $17 million and deeply held misconceptions about the U.S. -- often repeated by community leaders in Muslim countries.

"How do we fight the misperception that we're out to destroy Islam?" she asked.

Fullerton said the State Department soon realized that television could be the tool they were looking for.

"Beers wanted to go past the governments and reach the people," Kendrick said. "She knew the best way to do it was on TV."

Although the U.S. government has attempted to influence the opinion of people abroad for decades through means such as leaflets and radio broadcasts such as those on the Voice of America, the ads marked the first time government officials purchased air time for diplomatic efforts on foreign-run stations, Fullerton said.

The five ads were miniature documentaries showing Muslims living happily in the United States and commenting on the country's tolerance for their religion. One ad focused on a Lebanese baker who interacts with non-Muslim customers, and another showed a public elementary school teacher who wears a hajib in her classroom.

The ads began airing in October 2002 in Indonesia and then in Pakistan, Malaysia and Kuwait as well as on stations that broadcast to multiple countries by satellite. Some outlets, such as the Arabic satellite channel al-Jazeera, and stations in Egypt and Jordan, refused to air them, Fullerton said.

By January 2003, State Department officials said the campaign was discontinued, and they faced a firestorm of criticism from commentators and political insiders who felt the campaign was ineffective, she said.

Eggspuehler said unrealistically high expectations for the ads, as well as a lack of understanding of the role and workings of public relations, contributed to the quick shelving of the campaign.

"I don't think the ads ran long enough to determine whether they were effective," she said.

Fullerton said the State Department never studied the effectiveness of the ads. The only internal study, which was conducted by an ad agency that worked on the project, showed that the ads were remembered by a high number of those who saw them, she said.

"The campaign did achieve the objectives of the State Department," Fullerton said. "It was seen, and it was talked about."

Officials at the State Department said none of its current employees worked directly on the ad campaign or would be in a position to speak about its effectiveness.

Fullerton and Kendrick wanted to find out for them selves what kind of an effect the ads had. They have conducted two surveys on international students in London, with another in Singapore last year and more planned in England and Hong Kong.

The surveys, which used traditional measurements of advertising effectiveness as well as measurements of their attitudes toward the U.S. taken before and after viewing the ads, showed consistent improvement, Fullerton said.

Fullerton and Kendrick have presented their findings at several conferences, and got them published in the September 2004 Journal of Advertising Research.

Fullerton said they also submitted their research to the State Department during a hearing on public diplomacy last year.

They have since received letters and e-mail that denounce the ads. Some writers criticize them for not explaining the United States' foreign policy and intentions in Muslim countries, and others simply dislike the use of TV ads to promote public policy.

"It's a lot more politically hot than we realized," Fullerton said. "We just wanted to examine ad effectiveness in an interesting case study."

Fullerton said the ads fit the traditional definition of propaganda -- government-sponsored communication during wartime.

However, she said she did not believe the ads went beyond previous U.S. propaganda efforts, other than their means of distribution, and that she felt TV ads could be an effective component of a larger diplomatic push.

"Advertising should be considered one tool in diplomacy," Fullerton said.

Eggspuehler said the study could be very useful.

"To pretend the ads never existed does a disservice to the American people," she said. "We can learn a lot from them."