Paid Patriotism

November 11, 2015 in Daily Bulletin

In the United States its Veteran’s Day today. America is a fairly patriotic country but Barry Petchesky wrote that at times this patriotism can be a little artificial:

  • Sporting events sometimes have giant American flags, the singing of the national anthem, or even the depiction of military personnel on stadium screens for a round of applause.
  • It turns out that the Department of Defense actually pays for these activities.
  • They reason that it’s an effective advertisement that drums up military recruitment.
  • The Atlanta Falcons made close to a million dollars by agreeing to run these promos.
  • There’s been a backlash to the stealth advertizing and the defense establishment intends to stay away from them going forwards.
  • The NFL, for its part, says that it intends to return all of the money it made from the patriotic displays.

Read more here.

Source: Deadspin