Revolution®

I was going to write this in the comment section, but it got too long and I wanted to reference a WSJ article, so I turned it into a post. Hope you all don’t mind.
As I was reading “Perhaps all we blog Davids will, in fact, help slay the castro Goliath”, it struck a chord and made a few past events and some thoughts all kind of came together in my mind-ouch!
A (c)astro Goliath?Insightful.
Goliath is not (f)idel, the revolution or the regime. Goliath is the “Revolution®” a (c) astro creation that has been marketed and force fed to the unknowing public by the (c)astro propaganda machine and its leftist, anti-American accomplices for over 50 years.
In an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Michael Casey, attributes the success of the “Revolution®” to branding. He calls it “Brand Cuba”:

we can attribute its durability to a concept that’s alien to his socialist rhetoric, and deeply rooted in the American capitalist system he claims to despise: branding. Castro’s political “success” is a case study in managing the global information economy.
The Cuban Revolution is and always has been a brand. Its face has changed over time — from the “barbudo” rebels of the Sierra Maestra to Che Guevara’s piercing stare, from Cuba’s graying salsa legends to its globe-trotting medics — but incredibly, its essence has survived.
For many within a core constituency of left-leaning, relatively well-educated people both inside and outside Cuba, Castro’s “revolution” achieved precisely this. To this niche market, Cuba evokes a set of magical buzz words long-favored by the radical left: “resistance,” “social justice,” “struggle.” It represents an idealized, selfless counterpoint to ruthless, greedy capitalism. It is the alternative to brand U.S.A.

In free market terms, in order to defeat our enemy, we have to compete for a larger market share by creating our brand “Cuba Libre”. You would think that it would be a piece of cake given that “Cuba Libre” is a far superior product , but the “Revolution®” has been around for over fifty years, gets free advertising and has brand loyalty. It’s an international conglomerate. We are an upstart local brand.
I remember a few years back I was reading the Sun-Sentinel and they had a story about some Cuban guy with something called a “blog” that was taking on “The Burlington Coat Factory” because they were marketing the “Revolution®” brand in the form of Che T-shirts for babies. That’s how I discovered Babalú. What really struck me back then was that the Cuban blogger, Val, was fighting an information war reaching people all over the globe with the truth. He won that scrimmage with The Burling Coat Factory. The information war continues.
The regime is well aware of the influences that many little Davids can have on its brand. Just last year, Ramiro Valdes, referred to the Inernet as a “wild colt”, “potro salvaje”, that needed to be tamed. The regime’s biggest fear is the introduction of the “Freedom” brand inside the island. This is a very popular and addicting product. Once you try it, you can’t get enough of it. That’s why the Potro Salvaje blog is even more satisfying to read because it not only fights the (c)astroist propaganda, shows you a way to get around its information monopoly, but it’s also, because of its name, a slap in the face to Ramiro and his thugs.
Read Casey’s article in the WSJ here.
oh and like Carrie says:
CAMBIO, BABY, CAMBIO