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G.I. Joe is no longer a marine

dng

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http://www.redstate.com/blogs/moe_lane/2007/oct/29/well_theres_a_puzzler_for_you

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2007/10/gi_joe_-_real_belgian_operating_entity/

G.I. Joe - Real Belgian Operating Entity

[align=center]
James Joyner|Monday, October 29, 2007[/align]
Fearing that the American soldier is not the ideal international marketing figure in the current climate, the makers of the forthcoming G.I. Joe movie have decided that not only is “G.I. Joe” not an American G.I., he’s no longer even named “Joe.”

Variety reports,


While some remember the character from its gung-ho fighting man ’60s incarnation, he’s evolved. G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer. The property is closer in tone to “X-Men” and James Bond than a war film.
IGN adds,


So why the changes? Hasbro and Paramount execs recently spoke about the challenges of marketing a film about the U.S. military at a time when the current U.S. administration and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are at a low-point in global polls. When a studio makes a film as expensive as G.I. Joe will likely be, they want to know that as many people as possible around the world will want to see it. In other words, G.I. Joe — “A Real American Hero” — is a tough sell.
This news is two months old but just starting to bubble in the blogosphere. Mike Pechar, Betsy Newmark, and RightWingSparkle are some of the bloggers I recognize who are on the story today. [Update: Via Memeorandum, I see John Hawkins, Mark Noonan, and John Cole have weighed in.]

It’s especially galling that G.I. Joe is being stripped of its American military identity while the American military is deployed to a war zone. As Vin Suprynowicz points out, “G.I. Joe” was modeled on a real real American hero, Mitchell Paige, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on Guadalcanal. He agreed to let Hasbro use his likeness on the condition that “G.I. Joe must always remain a United States Marine.”

Then again, Hasbro is an international conglomerate and business is business. As a review of its Wikipedia entry makes clear, G.I. Joe has constantly evolved over the years. The version I played with in the early 1970s was sold at a time when the American military was a hot button and was marketed accordingly:


  • By 1970, in the wake of the Vietnam War, Hasbro sought to downplay the war theme that had initially defined “G.I. Joe”. The line became known as “The Adventures of G.I. Joe” for a time. G.I. Joe was now cast as the leader of the “Adventure Team”, an adventuring/spy-like organization with the goal of rescue missions and fighting evil. The look of the doll was also changed in 1970 with the addition of a flocked hair and beard (an innovation developed in England by Palitoy for their licensed version of Joe, Action Man). A retooled African American Adventurer was also introduced around this time.
  • In 1974, named to meet the growing cultural popularity of Kung Fu, Hasbro introduced the “kung fu grip” to the G.I. Joe line. This was another innovation that had been developed in the UK for Action Man. The hands were sculpted in a softer plastic that allowed the fingers to grip objects in a more lifelike fashion.
  • In 1975, after a failed bid to purchase the toy rights to the Six Million Dollar Man, Hasbro issued a bionic warrior figure named Mike Power, Atomic Man, which sold over one million units. Also added to the Adventure Team was a superhero, Bulletman. Both figures were not in the mold of the rest of team, and further confused the GI Joe line.
Indeed, my first G.I. Joe has red flocked hair and a beard and came with desert safari gear. I later acquired both a kung fu grip variant and got Mike Power, the Atomic Man, for my 10th birthday. My dad was in the Army at the time and I spent a substantial part of my G.I. Joe period living on military installations. It never occurred to me to note that it was unusual for a military man to sport a beard or that none of the “action figures” had traditional uniforms and insignia. I suspect today’s kids won’t ponder the political implications of this rebranding with any more vigor.

And, frankly, the fact that the organization is based out of Brussels doesn’t necessarily render it anti-American. After all, that’s where NATO is headquartered. Still, the move is annoying.
 

dng

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This pisses me off because we are loosing our country in some many ways, and it's even made it to our kid's toys. Hasbro has done away with an action figure of an AMERICAN hero, and has replaced him with a soldier that answers to all the crooks at the UN. People, where does this end? They are going after our kids, and our freedoms and national sovereignty is only one generation away from disappearing.
 

HankT

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dngreer wrote:
This pisses me off because we are loosing our country in some many ways, and it's even made it to our kid's toys. Hasbro has done away with an action figure of an AMERICAN hero, and has replaced him with a soldier that answers to all the crooks at the UN. People, where does this end? They are going after our kids, and our freedoms and national sovereignty is only one generation away from disappearing.



I don't see the objection.

Hasbro and Paramountare simply repositioning the brand aiming at a global market. This is out of Marketing 101 and Strategy 401. There is no particular obligation to make their property (the brand and productare exactly that) conform to anyone's nostalgic or psuedo-patriotic inclinations. It's quite an American (OK, Amerikan for MEM) value to maximize shareholder value. Repositioning the brand to get to a wider, more profitable market is a common and often successful strategy, one which management and the companies board are compelled, even have afiduciary responsibility for pursuing.


It's not like GI Joes have been flying off the shelves in recent years. The brand has been in decline for a longggggg time. Transformers are doing quite well, though.

There is some downside in the repositioning of course. A competitor could come in and do a new American soldier guy (Nick Fury!) and scarf up huge profits from all pent up demand in the void left by the old GI Joe market segment. LOL.

Downside is alsoreflected by the folks who lament the change and object to it for their own naive reasons about how the world should be--but not much.


I wonder what Ron Paul would think about this issue? ;)

And the Libertarians--the real ones? ;);)
 

dng

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It's the same kind of thing as the UN banning fishing in Antartica in the movie "Happy Feet". The left is going after our kids, they are trying to indoctrinate them, and they know if they can do that, all they have to do is wait for the older generation to die, and then all opposition will be gone. The UN is an evil organization, corrupt and as crooked as they come. It is part of the effort to do away with our nation, and make us one big happy community.
 

longwatch

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Hmm nothing about freedom or guns or gun rights, locked. I'll allow some latitude for the general discussion but please people.
 
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