Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have caused devastating damage to American troops in Iraq, so it’s only natural that the Pentagon would make every effort to thwart attacks using these devices. I have to admit, though, that of all the possible approaches, using advertising to ask insurgents to stop using IEDs hadn’t occurred to me.
The Pentagon, looking for innovative ways to thwart deadly roadside bombs in Iraq, has launched an $11 million program using robots, body armor and a “first-ever advertising campaign aimed at the Iraqi” people, the weekly Inside the Army reports.
An Army-led joint task force, called the Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Task Force, will spend $7.7 million to have an Iraqi ad agency produce “a series of media products … designed to influence Iraqi target audiences to support efforts to eliminate the IED threat,” the Pentagon said last month.
The effort against improvised explosive devices will include video, audio and print campaigns. “The task force is looking at solutions across a wide spectrum, really,” a spokesman told Inside the Army. “It’s not just technology, it’s not just jammers, it’s not just armor. It’s a holistic approach to solve the problem.”
I guess it’s worth a try, but violent insurgents don’t really seem like the types who are influenced by multi-media ad campaigns. We’ll see.