Prior to the outbreak of war, all the indications were that most advertisers wanted to have nothing to do with the war or with America, with some pulling ads and others cutting down on frequency.
UK advertisers are worried that ads that overtly feature America could be seen as being pro-war.
The long-haul airlines, in particular, are watching the developments closely. Virgin is currently not running ads and says it has no plans to, while British Airways has said that it is being careful about the launch of any new initiatives.
Earlier this week, Procter & Gamble, the second biggest advertiser in the US, was still avoiding advertising during news programming, having already pulled all advertising for 48 hours following the start of the allied invasion of Iraq.
Leon Jaume, the executive creative director at WCRS, told ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 recently: "Everybody is very sensitive and some ads that would have been OK only a year ago are not acceptable now."
Despite this reluctance to be seen as supporting troops or mistaken for being pro-war, a small trickle of advertisers are beginning to come off the fence and show their support for troops fighting in the Gulf as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
It will not be a surprise that most of these are American. The ads come on the heels of a swell in patriotism in America that seems to have overwhelmed any opposition to the war.
The sense of patriotism in the US has seen pro-troop rallies to counter protests and firms appealing for donations to support the 200,000-plus US servicemen and women in the Gulf.
The radio stations of Clear Channel Communications were recently revealed to be behind a series of "pro-troops" rallies that drew tens of thousands of participants.
So far, ads supporting troops in the US have appeared from the likes of real-estate firm Coldwell Banker and the home-improvement retailer Lowe's.
Here in the UK, defence giant BAe has also ran a press ad in support of British troops in the region. The black-and-white press ad, which ran in a number of national newspapers, kept it simple and read: "To our forces in the Gulf: a speedy and safe return".
The ads created for Coldwell Banker by Publicis Groupe's Kaplan Thaler shows a fridge door with photos of an American soldier with his family. In one photo, he is wearing Army combats loading the car and in another he is hugging his dog. The ad then cuts to an American flag as a voiceover tells the viewer: "It's only a house until you come home."
A spokesman for the firm said that he thought the ad was timely and in keeping with the national mood. "I don't think it's an opportunistic message. It's about recognising our troops and their families," he told the Wall Street Journal.
In the current mood, the ad is unlikely to be seen as taking advantage of the war and with the image of the American flag it can easily be read as supportive.
The campaign from Lowe's was similar in style. It ran a press ad promoting its "Power of Pride", which is raising money for US troops and for which it has teamed up with the USO. Created by McCann-Erickson, it asks shoppers to sign thank-you banners that will be sent to the troops.
These ads are likely to be the exception rather than the rule as many stay silent. Even those that are closely associated with being British or American are resisting involvement.
Brewer Shepherd Neame, for instance, which has run some humorously patriotic ads in the past for its Battle of Britain Spitfire Beer, including 'The French Resistance', which took a light-hearted and modern-day swipe at the French, said it would not consider running such ads at the current time, even if they were in support of British troops.
If the norm is to say nothing and the exception is to support troops, there are, on the fringes, some brands that are willing to come out against the war altogether.
The UK-based Muslim Qibla Cola Company, which says it adheres to the Koran, has come out firmly against the war and has gone so far as to condemn what it calls an "illegal war on Iraq" and called for a boycott of US global brands.
Zafer Iqbal, managing director of Qibla Cola, said: "In recent weeks, we have the seen the call for boycotting US brands intensify as people register their opposition to the US foreign policy through their spending power."
The Bradford-based cola firm has also condemned British and American troops in the region and said that they are being "exploited to secure interests for American oil, defence and construction companies".
However, with no plans for advertising, such condemnation and calls for a boycott is unlikely to have much of an impact.
Elsewhere, creatives are having think much harder about the ads that they do run. One senior agency manager told ±±¾©Èü³µpk10: "Creative ideas are being rejected even if they need a huge leap of imagination to associate them with military action or with being pro-American."
Adidas this week ran into trouble over a poster, featuring the sprinter Dwain Chambers naked except for a pair of trainers fitted with explosives. Critics of the ad, created by TBWA\London, were quick to pick up on the links to the "shoebomber" -- British terrorist Richard Reid, who attempted to blow up an American Airlines plane -- and slammed the ad, which ran outside a mosque.
An Adidas spokesperson said: "We think that most people will understand what the poster is saying, but we are sorry if it has been misinterpreted in any way. The campaign has now come to an end."
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