Anti-War Advertising: How To “Unsell The War” San Francisco (LNS) — Henry Fonda appears on the TV screen: “When I was a kid, I used to be really proud of this country. I thought that this was a country that cared about people no matter who they were or where they came from. But now, when I see my country engaged in an endless war, a push-button war in which American pilots and electronic technicians are killing thousands of Asians without even seeing who they kill. “When I see us each week stepping up the tonnage of bombs dropped on Indochina…then I don’t feel so proud any more. Because I thought that was what bad countries did…not my country.” The Fonda testimonial is one of ten new anti-war television spots in the Help Unsell the War campaign, a project sponsored by Clergy and Laymen Concerned, an ecumenical peace group. Unsell is trying, with some success, to use the advertising industry to help make people more aware of the war. In addition to the TV spots, radio commercials and ads in newspapers and magazines have been produced for the campaign. The spark for Unsell was struck when a Yale University student named Ira Nerkin saw the CBS television documentary, “The Selling of the Pentagon.” The program showed how the Pentagon spends millions of tax dollars on pro-military propaganda in the mass media. Nerkin felt that the anti-war movement might also be able to use the same media. He had friends in the advertising industry who put him in touch with people interested in helping out. The ads were ready by the summer of 1971 and Clergy and Laymen Concerned was approached and agreed to sponsor the project. Clergy and Laymen set up a network of committees around the country which — making use of its status as a church group — approached local stations and papers requesting that the spots be run free of charge as public service advertising. About 25% of those contacted agreed; in some cases where media outlets refused, funds were raised and the ads placed as paid commercials. — Bill Gerson
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Anti-War Advertising: How To “Unsell The War”

San Francisco (LNS) — Henry Fonda appears on the TV screen:

“When I was a kid, I used to be really proud of this country. I thought that this was a country that cared about people no matter who they were or where they came from. But now, when I see my country engaged in an endless war, a push-button war in which American pilots and electronic technicians are killing thousands of Asians without even seeing who they kill.

“When I see us each week stepping up the tonnage of bombs dropped on Indochina…then I don’t feel so proud any more. Because I thought that was what bad countries did…not my country.”

The Fonda testimonial is one of ten new anti-war television spots in the Help Unsell the War campaign, a project sponsored by Clergy and Laymen Concerned, an ecumenical peace group. Unsell is trying, with some success, to use the advertising industry to help make people more aware of the war. In addition to the TV spots, radio commercials and ads in newspapers and magazines have been produced for the campaign.

The spark for Unsell was struck when a Yale University student named Ira Nerkin saw the CBS television documentary, “The Selling of the Pentagon.” The program showed how the Pentagon spends millions of tax dollars on pro-military propaganda in the mass media. Nerkin felt that the anti-war movement might also be able to use the same media.

He had friends in the advertising industry who put him in touch with people interested in helping out. The ads were ready by the summer of 1971 and Clergy and Laymen Concerned was approached and agreed to sponsor the project.

Clergy and Laymen set up a network of committees around the country which — making use of its status as a church group — approached local stations and papers requesting that the spots be run free of charge as public service advertising. About 25% of those contacted agreed; in some cases where media outlets refused, funds were raised and the ads placed as paid commercials. — Bill Gerson

The Girls Run It “Ten days after we seized Harvard’s Architectural workshop at 888 Memorial Drive in Cambridge and created our women’s center under seige, 80 of us marched out. Our NLF flags were flying. We looked victorious, decorated with multi-colored headbands and face-paint. We carried daffodils, gay liberation banners and Free Ericka signs. The last of us climbed to the top of our 20 foot step ladder and tacked a new message over the row of women’s liberation symbols decorating the building. The red lettering, still wet and shiny, told Harvard: “Sorry, we couldn’t wait.” We locked the door behind us.”
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The Girls Run It

“Ten days after we seized Harvard’s Architectural workshop at 888 Memorial Drive in Cambridge and created our women’s center under seige, 80 of us marched out. Our NLF flags were flying. We looked victorious, decorated with multi-colored headbands and face-paint. We carried daffodils, gay liberation banners and Free Ericka signs. The last of us climbed to the top of our 20 foot step ladder and tacked a new message over the row of women’s liberation symbols decorating the building. The red lettering, still wet and shiny, told Harvard: “Sorry, we couldn’t wait.” We locked the door behind us.”