Insulting ad

[Couv]

As a retired member of the United States military and coming from a long line of men who served our country, I am very put off by the new advertisement "Invade Cozumel" where scrolling pictures of former campaigns are shown. When the United States was called upon to secure the freedom of the people in the countries you claim we invaded, they made sacrifices that should not be made light of. I find the comment that our brave men and women "invaded" these counties to be highly insulting.

Please modify or cancel this grossly insensitive add.

Couv

 

[Quero]

couv, it's understandable with your background that you think of the word invade in its military meaning. ScubaBoard has many, many members who currently serve or have formerly served in the armed forces, and I don't know of any case in which these members were not treated with respect, so I'd like to explain why I think that your indignation is misplaced in this case.

While it's true that invade can mean "to enter for conquest," that's not the only meaning of the word. The ad for the SB Cozumel trip uses invade in one of the several other senses it can have, specifically "spread over or into."

Here are some examples of sentences with the word invade used in a variety of meanings, taken from Webster's

The troops invaded at dawn.
When tourists invade, the town is a very different place.
The cancer eventually invaded the brain.
Weeds had invaded the garden.
Bacteria invaded and caused an infection.

I'm sure that you'll agree, once you've thought about it, that because the word invade is not used in the SB Cozumel trip ad in a military sense, there is nothing offensive about it as regards current or former service men and women.

 

[DevonDiver]

Got a link to the advert?

 

[emoreira]

Though I'm not an US citizen, I was also surprised (at least) with that advertisement "Invade Cozumel", particularly with the scrolling images.
I agree with the thoughts of couv.
Besides, the scrolling images were snapshots of wars, while this "invade Cozumel" means diving and ultimately pleasure.
The word "invade" may have lots of meanings, but images of war have only one meaning, and not precisely pleasure.

 

[Davemohio]

Now that I think about it, it was an odd banner for scuba diving.

 

[CT Sean]

here's the ad, if this works. If you have an ad blocker you may not see it

 

[Downing]

You don't have to be a member of the Armed Forces to be insulted by images of war used in an ad for SB's "invasion" campaign.

I don't find the word itself to be objectionable in this context. Obviously, it's intended to be tongue in cheek. But using it conjunction with photos of Americans at war? Now that's just poor taste.

Keep the word. Dump that particular ad.

My two cents.

 

[Subcooled]

"We" ?

 

[The Chairman]

Here is the ad:

​

Advertising often uses contrasts in order to be highly visible. Obviously the not fun military invasions are being contrasted against an incredibly fun ScubaBoard Invasion. I created the ad and certainly did not intend for it to be insulting.

Could you possibly tell me how I insulted the military and/or combatants here? I selected images that were quite compelling (I thought) and showed our military acting heroically. Certainly, I do not think of them as vacation destinations like I pictured Cozumel.

 

[ianr33]

I have never served in the Military and am not a U.S. citizen.

I think the ad is extremely tacky.