Restoring the Brand- Defending government in an anti-government age.
Negative stereotypes derive in part from the expansion of government's role in American lives, says Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. "When government gets involved in moral issues such as abortion and gay rights, it tells some people that their views are not acceptable," she says. "It was easier to be good citizens when government did a lot less."
Many observers distinguish between the behemoth of government in the abstract and the good deeds of specific agencies and civil servants. "The American people don't have a solid understanding of the difference between state, local and federal governments," says Lara Shane, vice president for communications and research at the Partnership for Public Service. "They're all painted with the same brush, and Congress' ratings are at an all-time low."
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Honoring the Everyday
"Before you drink your next glass of water, eat your next meal, visit the doctor's office, board a flight, deposit a paycheck, before you take your next breath . . . Consider who's working day and night so that you can do all this safely. Federal employees, that's who." That punchy copy is part of a pair of NTEU public service video announcements showcasing individual federal employees. They were broadcast in 2011 between July and October in more than 25 major media markets, airing on television more than 2,700 times and making 83.8 million audience impressions or exposures to viewers, the union says. Audio versions have been aired voluntarily 12,400 times by 115 radio stations, for more than 17.6 million impressions.
The idea is to "make the public think about the services that are expected and how different it would be if federal employees were not there," says NTEU President Colleen Kelley. These include Internal Revenue Service workers, who despite their unpopularity, help taxpayers file returns; Food and Drug Administration inspectors who confronted the recent outbreak of illness from contaminated cantaloupes; and Social Security Administration employees who know that almost everyone at some point will collect that agency's benefits.
http://www.govexec.com/features/0112-01/0112-01s1.htm
Long article but worth the read