Success
Listening:
Re-Branding Switzerland, 1997-2007
Revelations that its
banking system was willing to handle Nazi gold during the Second World War in
1996 coupled with the fact that it was not a member of the European Union
dented Switzerland’s image. It managed to turn the state of affairs by
collecting views of the publics in selected countries and aligning foreign
policies to those views.
Advocacy:
U.S P.D to support Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Deployment in 1983
The issue was how to
get the public in Western Europe to support U.S deployment of INF in that
region. This was part of a wider strategy to foster serious negotiations with
the Soviet Union on arms reduction. The campaign was, therefore, designed to
have media messages in countries of Western Europe portraying the U.S as
sincerely interested in peace while at the same time stressing the need for
matching the Soviet Union. Follow up polls actually indicated that the opinions
did actually shift.
Cultural
Diplomacy: America’s Family of Man Exhibi, 1955-1963
Realizing that it was
lagging behind its Soviet Union counterpart in the way nationals of other
countries perceived of its image, the U.S set up a team to manage a counter. Some
aspects of the campaign were the export of distinctively U.S culture such as
Jazz music. Most outstanding, however, was a photographic exhibition featuring
artists from many countries. In this way, the foreign publics were seeing their
cultures presented to them by America.
Exchange:
Franco-German rapprochement, 1945-1988
France and German
speaking territories had not been in good terms for hundreds of years. This
enmity was responsible formations of nations in the two countries. For
instance, Germany was able to unify. The exchange first begun at an individual
level with a certain French Jesuit priest establishing publications in both
French and German to promote mutual understanding. On the other side, German
politicians also established exchanges. These
were to be taken by local governments and eventually by the respective national
governments.
International Broadcasting: British Management
of U.S. isolation 1939-1941
Facing Britain was the
problem of bringing the U.S out of its neutrality policy in the wake of the Second
World War. The American public at the time had an image of Britain that was
mostly good at propaganda. The campaign, therefore, focused on using American
voices to broadcast in the U.S. Stories
were told even if they sometimes portrayed Britain in bad light. In this way,
Britain was able to remove the image of propaganda in its broadcasts in the
minds of many Americans.
Failures
Listening:
The U.S. ‘Shared Values’ Campaign
Concerns U.S attempt to
bolster its image in the Arab world. It is an example of how listening can fail
if not fed into policy. The ‘Shared Values’ campaign stressed the lives of
Arab-Americans who were apparently living well while the source of a negative
U.S image in the Middle East was another thing. Arabs hated America because of
its policies in the Middle-East as opposed to the poor conditions of Arabs
living in the U.S.
Advocacy:
The U.S. in Vietnam
It was the typical
illustration that even the best advocacy must be matched by an equally good
policy. Even as the U.S spent lots of money in selling its client governments
to the Vietnamese public, the reality on the ground was just very different. The
client regime in Saigon did not live up to the image the U.S was trying to
portray.
Cultural
Diplomacy: The Image of the Soviet Union
Here again, the Soviet
Union was spending money in exporting appealing portrayals of culture to other
countries in a manner that was completely out of sink with the reality within
the territory. It is another pointer that public diplomacy should not be very
much out of reality.
Exchange:
The Case of Sayed Qubt, 1948
This case shows that
exchange does not necessarily lead to understanding. It must be accompanied by
appropriate support for understanding to come out of it. Sayed Qubt had had
some negative attitudes about the U.S but visiting the country reinforced these
feelings. His followers were more inclined to believe him given that he had
been in that country.
International
Broadcasting: British/Free French Broadcasting to France in World War Two
This case shows the
pitfalls of distorting messages even if doing so may be beneficial in the short
run. Such distortions often come to haunt. The British/Free French broadcasts
from London had blamed food shortages in France on German occupiers while this
was actually not the case.
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