British PR firm, Acanchi, which focuses on corporate branding for countries in need of a public relations facelift, was hired by the Israeli Foreign Ministry for a new campaign.
Haaretz reports
today that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has signed a contract with British
public relations firm, Acanchi (www.acanchi.com),
to develop a brand for Israel that is “disconnected from the Arab-Israeli
conflict […] (and) that focuses instead on Israel’s scientific and cultural
achievements.”
Acanchi,
which describes itself as believing that “success for a country, city or region
brand can be achieved by discovering, defining and channeling this chi into a brand positioning that
reflects the core truths of a place,” claims to embark on a “rigorous journey
of discover” in deciding upon a brand.
Ido
Aharoni, the Israeli Foreign Ministry official in charge of this program, noted
that “even those who recognize that Israel is in the right are not
attracted to it, because they see it as a supplier of bad news. The conclusion
is that it is more important for Israel to be attractive than to be
right.”
Israel is neither
attractive nor right, and no amount of fantasy public relations can change
reality: Israel
is an occupying country that violates the most fundamental human rights of the
Palestinian people, and has done so for more than 40 years.
Write to Fiona Gilmore of Acanchi and tell her she cannot airbrush the
Palestinian people or the ongoing Israeli occupation out of reality. By doing
so, she would be directly contributing to a prolongation of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the daily violation of Palestinian individual
and national rights. Only by directly confronting and dealing with reality as
it truly is, can justice and a joint and secure life for Palestinians and
Israelis ever be achieved.
Fiona
Gilmore
Acanchi
32-34 Great
Marlborough Street
London W1F
7JB United Kingdom
Tel:
+44(0)207 287 4600
Fax: +44(0)207 287 8600
Email:
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To read the letter that the Alternative Information Center sent to Acanchi, click here.
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