Paid Pariotism

Paid Pariotism

Barry Petchesky:

Senate investigators report that the Department of Defense has spent more than $9 million over the last four years on military tributes at sporting events, carefully staged patriotic displays meant to drum up goodwill and recruiting that weren’t publicly disclosed as paid advertisements.

If you’ve gone to games or watched TV, you’ve been exposed to these ads. They take familiar forms: giant American flags, military-family reunions, the singing of “God Bless America” at baseball games, even things as seemingly minor as showing troops on the jumbotron for a round of applause. Sen. Jeff Flake revealed the practice earlier this year, and now Flake and fellow Arizona Republican John McCain have obtained 122 different contracts between the Pentagon and individual teams and leagues.