Paper short abstract:

Images and icons of war veterans are being appropriated by commercial organisations in New Zealand to engender trust in products and services. In a climate of expanding national interest in, and political promotion of war service as a cornerstone of national identity, companies are capitalizing on the resulting cultural myths.

Paper long abstract:

Anzac Day has been celebrated in New Zealand since 1916 and survives as a public holiday and national day of commemoration. Anzac Day was designed to remember New Zealand's (and Australia's) casualties at Gallipoli in 1915, but ceremonies have since incorporated the military service of men and women in all New Zealand's wars. Every town has a war memorial and on 25 April war dead are remembered at services at which dignitaries lay wreaths, the public wear poppies, and veterans their medals.

The acronym ANZAC was coined from the initials of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps made up of soldiers from both countries who fought together in World War I. Out of their joint war experience is said to have emerged an 'Anzac Spirit'; an identity for Kiwi soldiers at the time; and a national identity for their compatriots since.

This paper focuses on the ways in which memory of losses suffered during war is perpetuated and utilized in an atmosphere of growing national awareness and simultaneously is being appropriated and commodified. The memory of ANZAC is being exploited in a competitive commercial environment that is capitalizing on the reverence genereted by the sacrifice of war. Examples of advertising office equipment, property sales, beer, and the promotion of the 'Anzac Spirit' in popular culture, will be discussed and put in the context of current discourses surrounding national identity.