Does Hezbollah Have an Advertising Advantage?

Jonathan Schanzer writes an article in the Weekly Standard about Hezbollah’s advertising savvy, but he doesn’t tell the entire story.

Advertising Vs Advertising

In his article “Selling Terror”, subtitled “Madison Avenue meets the Bekaa Valley”, Mr. Schanzer writes a compendium of the media companies that are helping Hezbollah “sell terror”. He then concludes that the US needs to keep a closer eye on these operations (and their financing):

…the U.S. Treasury Department should consider a new round of designations to include Media-Publi, Ressalat, as well as the four Media-Publi employees listed on the site. Similarly, other banking systems and companies around the world should be encouraged to cease doing business with them. Hezbollah’s Lebanese advertising operations must not be allowed to continue.

But what Mr. Schanzer doesn’t say is that in Lebanon, Hezbollah is actually at a disadvantage when it comes to media and advertising savvy. The Cedar revolutionaries are the ones with the real Madison Avenue advantage, so much so that many articles have been written about the advertising prowess of the pro-Americans, who are striving — to use Mr. Schanzer’s words — to “sell” freedom.

(Disclosure: The Weekly Standard article in question links to this blog)