Iraq war oddly missing from Stop-Loss campaign

Posted by Chris

March 17, 2008

Nice of the Hollywood Reporter to finally notice the campaign for Stop-Loss seemed to have Basil Faulty as its lead brand manager.

I’ve mentioned before how the trailer and especially the poster for Stop-Loss, about the moral quandary a young man finds himself in as he debates refusing an order to return to Iraq after discharge, almost completely fail to mention the war itself. Instead it’s a coming of age drama about a bunch of friends along the lines of American Graffiti according to the ads.

The decision to not mention the war comes after a fall that was littered with dramas about Iraq, Afghanistan or the broader war efforts, almost all of which failed to find an audience. So the movie is being sold as one about a tight-knit group of friends instead of one about the ethics of war and when it’s alright to feel like you’ve done your bit. After all, you don’t want to depress the young people in the audience with a lecture when all they want is to look at the beautiful cast, do you?