Word of mouth advertising works, any good businessperson knows that

The 1600 Crew have cancelled the recent $30 million dollar PR/Ad campaign to help make Muslims the world over feel better about their spiritual brothers and sisters who live here in the the US. Now, let's look at this for a minute. We are trying to convince Muslim men, women and children overseas, in countries that are predominantly Islamic, that we love them. It's our government's official line. We are spending money with a high-priced Madison Avenue advertising agency who knows how to sell not just the steak, but the sizzle. And it's not working.

Could it be commentators like Ann "kill 'em or convert 'em" Coulter? Could it be the Right Reverands Falwell, Robertson, Graham et.al. ?

Or could it just possibly be our own governments actions with the round-up and deportations of hundreds of Islamic Males, 16 and up, in many cases to country's that they had left decades before, and were caught here in the ultra-effficient post 9/11 INS Green Card Sweepstakes? I am sure that all the stories of their treatment made and will continue to make a worse impression than any ad campaign however slick paid for with our tax dollars.

But the so-called "Shared values" campaign, conceived by the former advertising executive Charlotte Beers, proved controversial with critics describing it as straightforward propaganda. ... "It was like this in the 1930s and the government was running commercials showing happy blacks in America," Youssef Ibrahim, a senior fellow at the US council on foreign relations told the Wall Street Journal. (there's an image that the Bushies really love) ... Mr Ibrahim said the government should examine its policies rather than simply saying "Gee, there are a lot of happy Muslims here"

But then this administration might be accused of being "sensitive" to some group other than rich white guys and the Saudi Royal Family.

Of course, I expect than none of the families and friends have anything but really, really nice things to say about the Ashcroft Justice Department, and the INS. Word of Mouth Advertising, it'll get ya every time, any businessperson knows it, except Mr. Never-made-a-buck-for-himself