An American Image
Read Time:2 Minute, 37 Second
America is seen around the world in varying ways.
Big, Tough, Powerful and very often, Dumb.
The images we see in the media are of course very biased and not objective. Most people outside the USA see America through the filter of CSI or Boston Legal or Benny Hinn. Not exactly the image of your home country you want to project? A country full of crime, lawyers and religious nutters. Ok, maybe it is nearer reality than we poor foreigners believe. We’ll see.
But the image of America was used down here in New Zealand in a way which should fill every American heart with patriotic and capitalist pride.
It was used to sell beer.
We have a brand of lager down here called Steinlager, and their advertising agency came up with a campaign to promote their new sub-brand “Steinlager Pure”, and they decided to use the relatively minor incident of NZ telling the US Navy that they couldn’t bring nuclear armed or nuclear powered ships into NZ waters. This happened in 1985, and is embedded in the NZ psyche as a kind of David versus Goliath scenario, also emphasising NZ as a green country (no nukes, ever)
The campaign uses the talents of two excellent American actors, Harvey Keitel and Willem Defoe, to express their joy with the purity of NZ and of course the Steinlager Pure.
The advert with Defoe is shot against the backdrop of several huge aircraft carriers, with comments and voiceovers from Defoe as he walks slowly past these ships, the shots and commentary emphasising NZ’s moral courage in telling a nation with all of these powerful ships at its disposal to piss off. Reasonable advert, though it must have cost a huge amount to shoot, and I have no real problems with the concepts portrayed.
However, I really wish the bloody production team got things right. I reckon the director was either anti-military or just didn’t care. Let me enumerate his/her mistakes. If you check out the advert embedded at the end, you’ll probably see others.
Two MPs are standing guard over the hatchway leading to the nukes. The USN always uses armed Marines to guard its nukes
These soldiers are wearing beards. All US military are clean-shaven (with the exception of moustaches)
These soldiers are shown on guard duty, wearing a camouflage dress originating in either Syria or Panama. Not standard US MultiCam.
These soldiers are wearing dark glasses. Not on formal ship guard duty. Never.
As the camera pans along you can see the mighty power exemplified by these ships and their many guns.
Guns? On a modern nuclear powered fleet carrier?
These guns can be seen as twin 40mm, in pairs in gun tubs on the edge of the flight deck. The USN hasn’t used these types of mounts since the Vietnam War era. (I suppose they managed to get into the US Mothballed Reserve Fleet)
All the minor (and major) inaccuracies just make me mad. Why can’t people get things right. It’s not difficult, just do good research and pay attention to detail.
Good beer though.
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Our local grocery outlet gets many esoteric beers from around the world, and I see Steinlager there from time to time. It’s one of the few brands I recognize! ~~ You fellas certainly have an eye for the military detail; would not have had a clue. But right-o, Bigger is not necessarily Better, as your first pic so pointedly shows…
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Holte Ender, Michael Scott. Michael Scott said: RT @madmike1 American Image http://bit.ly/c78JSY […]
Send us a few samples.
Sorry BigH, I’m a Scot. We don’t do free drinks.
Well actually that’s not quite true. We just don’t give free drinks, but we’re definitely not averse to accepting free drinks. I thought I’d better make that clear just in case we ever meet.
Welcome Robert, I remember Steinlagar well from my year in Kiwiland, I have less fond memories of the Lion beer, who make Steinlagar, Lion Red was cheaper. Steinlager can be bought here in Georgia, If I am willing to drive 100 mile round trip, which I do on occasions, thankfully Lion Red is not available.
You need not travel outside the sphere of your computer my man. Here ya go a site that sells teh beer teh menz like.
http://www.beerhere.co.uk/acatalog/Steinlager_lagers.html
That’s what I need, an opportunity to make myself lazier than I already am.
See, I don’t see this as laziness at all. You have to use all your fingers on the keyboard, to make the purchase right, then when the stuff is delivered, you will have to get up off yer bum to answer the door. You’ll be getting something you enjoy and there are no gas fumes polluting the air, so see you’re saving the environment doing it this way, right that’s the one we’ll go with. Saving the environment is the better of the excu..oops, reasons yeah reasons, for making your purchase over the internets that Al Gore invented. 🙂
Hiya Holte.
Yep, Steinlager is pretty good, but my favourite is actually Speights Dark 5 Malt. Lion Red is pretty crap I agree, and as a Scot any whisky (apart from that poor American monstrosity know as Bourboun)is pretty good.
Great ad – for an excellent beer!
I noticed the inaccuracies Robert but all in all it was a great advertisement for a cold beer 🙂 As you no doubt know NZ is also known as “that place where they filmed Lord of the Rings.” So the big question is:
Is there really a Mount Doom?
How about “the Shire?”
Great first post and welcome to MadMikesAmerica!
Thanks for the great welcome Mike.
The Shire doesn’t exit Yet. Though there ae rumours that if Sir Peter Jackson makes enough money from the Hobbit he might buy a huge chunk of NZ and make it a huge Tolkienesque play park.
Hobbitton actualy exits, at a place called Matamata see here
Mount Doom as seen on LOTR is actually a composite of two real-life NZ volcanoes, Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu.
We’ve driven by Mount Ruapehu many times, as it’s on the side of the main road from Wellington where we live to Auckland. It certainly adds a certain frisson when we drive past.
Thanks Robert!!