John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week: Ellen DeGeneres and the 9/11 mosque
John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week:
Winner: Ellen DeGeneres
For a brand sometimes choosing not to do something is just as important as doing it.
That’s why Ellen DeGeneres is this week’s winner. She understood that American Idol and the DeGeneres brand were simply not compatible and she made a clean break.
For a celebrity brand, choosing not to do something so high profile is courageous. After all, today’s most sought after celebrities can become yesterday’s news. he Idol job widened DeGeneres profile.
But she probably realized that even though it widened her profile, exposing her to even more people, that it wasn’t necessarily strengthening her brand. For example, fans of the Idol show noted that she didn’t seem to have the edge that judges on the program are noted for –and in a statement DeGeneres said she doesn’t want to have that kind of edge.
Absolutely right. DeGeneres brand is likeable first. She’s funny, but never mean-spirited. The fact that she recognized that her brand strength didn’t connect with Idol and the acted on it should be a lesson for celebrities and non-celebrities alike.
Bottom line, we all have personal brands and if the shoe doesn’t fit, whatever you do don’t try to squeeze in –it will only crimp your style!
Loser: Mosque at Ground Zero
In a perfect world, a mosque at Ground Zero would be fine. But in a perfect world, 9-11 would never have happened. And that’s the point.
Fact is, for most Americans Islam and the attack on the World Trade Center are connected. Long after the hole in the ground that is the construction site is filled and new buildings rise, the 9-11 wound will remain open and mourned. And as long as it is mourned, the negative connection to Islam will remain.
No amount of good will, smart public relations or wishful thinking will change this fact –and the building of a mosque and Islamic community center will only inflame it.
The intent of those who would build it at the site might be honorable. They may genuinely see it as a bridge to better relations between all religions. They say that Christians and Jews will be on the board. All that is good, but…
The act of building a mosque on that sacred site won’t build bridges, it will only burn them.
Why?
Because one of the goals of the kind of radical Islam that was the credo of the 9-11 terrorists was the spread of Islam. Building a mosque, the enshrinement of that goal, on the ground that their destructive act made desolate gives the appearance that these radical religionists were successful in their goal.
It is incredibly powerful symbolism. As one friend of mind recently and memorably said, it would have been like the Japanese opening a sushi restaurant at Pearl Harbor.
I’m all for this great country that allows all religions the freedom to be practiced and Islam certainly has its place here. I’m also a firm believer in healing. But healing takes time and sensitivity.
My friend’s reaction and many others, including the Anti-Defamation League’s opposition and polling numbers, tell me that this particular symbolism must be heeded.
Bottom line, building a mosque at Ground Zero is not only in bad taste for most Americans, it is an aggressive act.
The symbolism of forcing a mosque onto the footprint of the World Trade Center, the graveyard of thousands sacrificed to Islamic extremism bent on conquest, can send only one message: we have conquered here.
Political correctness may have prompted many, including Mayor Bloomberg, to water down this connection, but the World Trade Center site belongs to all Americans.
The question is: is a mosque necessary at the World Trade Center?
The answer is no.
By all means build it nearby, but not on that ground hallowed by 2,750 innocent victims of a religion taken too far.
And, remember, things are always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.
TODAY’S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY –
Sometimes symbolism is too powerful for any brand to ignore.
John Tantillo is an AMA member and president of the Marketing Department of America, a New York-based marketing firm.
http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/
The opinions expressed in this post are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the American Marketing Association.
