Stephen Linin

I walk outside my container and feel the wondrous heat of a Baghdad morning. I bypass the dining facility and head on over to ‘Green Beans’ (The Starbucks of Iraq). I put my order in for a muffin and a large coffee. I pull out my wallet and pay with some U.S. dollars and some pogs. I’m back in my office and enjoying the muffin and the coffee. I look back on the transaction.

The Army & Air Force Exchange Services, which runs the Post Exchange (PX) found on most bases here in Iraq, don’t use American coins for giving change. They use pogs, a coin substitute with the value written on them. They are like coupons in the form of a round cardboard disk. The logic behind the use of pogs is to supplant to costly shipping of coins, because they weigh so much. This results in a new currency being used that forces you to utilize military PX stores. Keep in mind that the PX at AAFES is an overseas monopoly. There are no real alternatives to the PX for purchasing most goods.

I can certainly understand how costly it might be to ship enough change over to satisfy the need which has led merchant officials to pogs. Within the last couple months or so, they started to advertise pogs as change. I have twelve pogs in front of me as I write this and most have patriotic pictures on them.

Then I come across two that do not, one is advertising for Pizza Hut and the other for Marvel comics.

There is a Pizza Hut within 200 yards of where I now sit. The other, Marvel comics, takes me a minute to figure out why AAFES would advertise for this, I rarely see comics being sold at the PX. Then it dawns on me, the latest rash of Marvel comics movies that have come out – I’m a marketing target for movie night.

I am not sure if I should be offended, outraged, or feel indifferent, as my job is to provide support for troops while at the same fulfilling my duty as a target market.

I cannot help but think it’s wrong that AAFES uses pogs to market to soldiers.

I find it rather disturbing that a government run organization, such as AAFES, is marketing to their own troops to spend more money to increase their revenue. None of the items you find in a PX or their fast food establishment here in Iraq are cheap and yet they are trying to get people to buy more.

I would think that the U. S. Government would want to look out better for the interest of its troops. And I do not see how advertising to the troops to spend money on frivolous items is beneficial to keeping them strong. I see it as an attempt to increase the revenue of an organization that charges high prices for common items and has long lost the true scope of their mission, taking care of the American troops.

How do you feel about marketers targeting the men and women who are protecting us overseas?

Graphic Credit:
Sabrina Segal