Advertising campaign. These two words may arouse suspicion of a heavy sell, but not controversy. Yet a multi-billion dollar telecommunication company has recently blurred the line between normal marketing practices and political propaganda.

Besides using witty lines such as "there's a map for that" - playing on AT&T's "there's an app for that" iPhone campaign - a recent Verizon Wireless commercial clearly shows two provocative maps of the United States, one almost completely covered in red and one sparsely covered with blue. Naturally, this would immediately appear to be the news of a recent election or poll, but is instead a commercial for a wireless telephone company. While commercials are purposely biased to persuade the consumer of the product's excellent quality, it is completely shocking that a company as well-known as Verizon would use images imbued with blatant political party polarization.

Although Verizon's signature color is red and AT&T's signature color is blue, this telecom giant should have been aware of the possible perception of such a powerfully symbolic image. Maps demonstrating "red states" - where the majority of the votes are Republican and "blue states" - where the votes are mostly Democratic - have been used for decades in American politics to illustrate the success of each party in different regions of the country. The commercial, while advertising 3G phone coverage, surely evoked the image of these political party maps in the heads of many Americans who follow elections, inferring visually that our country is in a Republican stronghold.

However inadvertent this symbolism was, the advertising executives should have caught this veiled agenda that echoes artistic propaganda methods used infamously during World War II and the Cold War. Not only is this commercial inappropriately iconic, but recently AT&T filed a lawsuit against Verizon stating, "In essence, we believe the ads mislead consumers into believing that AT&T doesn't offer ANY wireless service in the vast majority of the country, [sic]" according to Engadget, a popular technology blog (www.engadget.com).

Although they recently dropped the lawsuit after intense negotiations, AT&T's disapproval of the commercial's confusing quality illustrates their competitor's insensitive blunder and transparent corruption. This controversial commercial should have been better thought out and orchestrated, as media has a huge influence on Americans and millions will view or have already viewed this misleading promotion. Verizon should leave the propagandistic advertising to less credible sources or they will lose any reputation of professionalism. Rather than being a leader as a successful wireless company, they will become a leader in distasteful advertisements.

Illustration by Karen Chin