Call of Duty: Black Ops series writer and director Dave Anthony addressed U.S. military defense as part of a recent presentation for political think tank The Atlantic Council, claiming that public opinion regarding national security can be manipulated using methods similar to video game marketing.
“When we have a new product that has elements that we’re not sure how people will respond to, what do we do as a corporation?” he asked, in reference to Activision’s pre-release strategy for Black Ops and Black Ops 2. “We market it, and we market it as much as we can – so that whether people like it or not, we do all the things we can to essentially brainwash people into liking it before it actually comes out. When you have decided to make these changes, you have a marketing campaign to introduce them before it is forced upon you.
“I’d like to see the government doing this too, because the government is becoming more and more unpopular and I have a lot of sympathy for it. It is an enormously tough job they have. I would like to see more effort into how we communicate with the people and educate the people into what we are doing and why.”
Anthony additionally recommended placing undercover soldiers in U.S. schools to curb terrorist attacks, similar to the approach adopted by airlines with the Federal Air Marshal Service. “The public won’t like it, they’ll think it’s a police state,” he said. “All of these are solvable problems.”
Anthony continued: “I look at the U.S. military and government, ironically, as having some of the very same problems as what the Call of Duty franchise has. We are both on top of our game. We are both the best in the world at what we do. We both have enemies who are trying to take us down at any possible opportunity. But the difference is, we know how to react to that.”
The Atlantic Counsel previously tapped Anthony for input regarding potential terrorist attack scenarios based on his research and writing on the subject. “Writers, directors and producers and other artists bring to bear observations derived from wholly different experiences in the creative world,” the organization said in a statement last month. “They can ask different kinds of questions that will challenge assumptions and status quo ways of tackling some of today’s toughest national security problems.”
