Viewpoints : Businesses Raise Old Glory, Sales Receipts

The stampede is on. The success of Operation Desert Storm is tempting more companies to capitalize on wartime emotions by linking arms with the victorious troops coming home from the Middle East. With peace at hand, dozens of corporations are looking for commercial war spoils.

From the moment American soldiers hit the sand, confident companies offered war tie-ins. One East Coast department store offered a yard of yellow ribbon free to anyone visiting its gift wrap department. Choice International Hotels donated $5 to the Red Cross each time a customer reserved a room. In “a salute to America’s spirit,” Reader’s Digest mailed free audiocassettes featuring 19 patriotic songs, including the Air Force theme.

When the bombing stopped, even the more cautious companies joined the patriotic parade. Delta Air Lines is thanking families of active military personnel by offering them a 70% fare cut. Macy’s opted to say thank you by buying a full-page newspaper ad hailing employees who participated in Desert Storm. Champagne producer Moet & Chandon took its own full-page ad directing readers to “tear this page into many small pieces and toss high into the air in celebration of peace.”

People who opposed U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf deride this as tasteless, transparent profiteering. Wartime opportunism, they say, is the marketing equivalent of kissing babies on the campaign trail during election year. Those who backed the war effort called it patriotic and caring. They say these companies are behaving like responsible citizens while comforting those of us waiting at home.

Is business boosterism selfless? Of course not. Consumers humming along with their free recording of “America the Beautiful” know inside that business isn’t stringing up yellow ribbons out of the goodness of its heart.

Even so, people may wonder whether companies that seek to sweeten their image or cash in on products with wartime tie-ins deserve applause or contempt. How should corporate America relate to war?

This isn’t the first time that business has successfully capitalized on national attitudes. When World War II ended, veterans wanted Jeeps to tool around in at home because the open, all-terrain vehicles made them feel like winners. AMC bought Jeep in the 1960s, launched a national advertising campaign that featured actual war footage and sales took off again. Sales still prosper at Chrysler, thanks in part to an American boom in outdoorsiness, but Jeep sales were carried commercially for 25 years almost exclusively by an effective war tie-in.

Persian Gulf tie-ins so far have taken on an assortment of forms. Several dozen companies are looking for trickle-down public relations. Prodigy recently invited Americans with family overseas to come in to a Sears store and send them a free message. Newspapers around the nation printed full-color flags or yellow ribbons on news pages and encouraged readers to hang them in windows. Omni Hotels donated cases of shampoo and skin lotion to soldiers and called on every hotel in the industry to join them.

Others are going more directly after dollars. TSR Inc., a toy maker, is marketing a board game called “A Line in the Sand.” Another toy maker is trying to trademark the words “Desert Storm.” And, while they might be offered at a sale price, golf balls decorated with Saddam Hussein’s face remain in stores, as do silk-screened T-shirts bearing the same face with a bull’s-eye on the forehead.

Riding a wave of postwar emotion can be a dynamite sales strategy with a lot of staying power. Products wrapped in the American flag become potent symbols. We see a peacetime example of this every time we drive by a billboard of the Marlboro man. By linking smoking with the romance of taming the Wild West, Marlboro peddles a myth to consumers who like to think of themselves as rugged, country-loving people. Companies marketing products with war tie-ins use the same technique and a similarly true-blue, patriotic macho image.

Interestingly, however, most established and well-heeled companies have distanced themselves as far from the Persian Gulf as possible. When the first bombs fell in January, a few--including Procter & Gamble, Pepsi-Cola, McDonald’s and American Express--ditched entire marketing campaigns during news coverage. They knew that a war environment could be a lousy context for wooing customers. They also sensed that upbeat, singsong television commercials might clash with bloodshed, not to mention the national mood.

Several major corporations decided that war was just too real and didn’t want their products associated with it in any way. Disneyland employees were instructed not to wear yellow ribbons, flags or anything else reminding patrons of the Persian Gulf.

Others steered clear because they didn’t want to be considered tasteless or exploitative. Worse, if fighting had sent home planeloads of body bags, they knew Americans would likely want to forget everything about it as fast as they could, as with Vietnam.

Sophisticated companies know that public disapproval can nail them dead, and they aren’t suicidal. Now that the war is a winner, however, many more companies are stepping forward enthusiastically to show their support. They want to ride this national wave of consumer confidence and content, no matter how briefly.

When handled skillfully, commercial patriotism can be highly lucrative. After all, wartime public approval is rare and seductive, and this was a very popular war.

But is it right for companies to trade on a world conflict that was deadly serious and included rape, plunder, murder and mayhem?

It’s not evil. In fact, it’s good for most everybody. For Americans who sent relatives and friends overseas, buying up Desert Storm paraphernalia was a way of staying in touch. Folks at home watching CNN felt like a meaningful part of it all when part of their room reservation went to the Red Cross. Now Americans feel like winners. They want to show their support, strut their stuff and feel like they count.

Products and services that honestly helped people endure the horror and uncertainty during the war were appreciated. Business profits, but so does the consumer. And even though we suffer our share of commercial predators and phonies, tying marketing to American morale works to everyone’s advantage.

So commercial patriotism turns out to be a classy thing. Even timid companies that held out initially have become flag wavers. They see customers eager to lay down their dollars and they are rushing in to capitalize. Good for them--and for us.