State Dept. Draws Lessons From ‘Cola Wars’

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

State Dept. Draws Lessons From ‘Cola Wars’

9/1/2008
By Sara Peck

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld famously declared that the United States is badly losing the “war of ideas.”

According to James Glassman, undersecretary for public diplomacy at the State Department, the reason we’re losing is poor marketing. He suggests that the struggle between Jihadism and Democracy is not unlike
the advertising wars between Coke and Pepsi.

“Think of it this way: we’re Coke; they’re Pepsi. Our job is not to get people to drink Coke in this instance, but to get people not to drink Pepsi,” he said at the Washington Institute for Middle East Policy.

Topics: International, Special Operations-Low Intensity Conflict, PsyOps

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