PR WATCH

Statesman: White House: Better PR can reverse anti-American sentiment

WASHINGTON — With anti-American sentiment rising worldwide, Bush administration officials say they are stepping up efforts to market America throughout the world.

Polls indicate that international opinion of the United States has plummeted in the last year, and worldwide sympathy for the United States after Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has all but dissipated.

The Bush administration spent more than $70 million after the attacks to expand broadcasts of U.S.-sponsored international news services, but such expenditures have returned to previous levels and critics say they are not enough to counter the growing tide of anti-American sentiment

"Clearly the Arab world is so wrought up I can't imagine any kind of public diplomacy-making that palatable," Silverman said, adding that the United States' recent Madison Avenue branding techniques are too simplistic to be effective in other cultures.