No matter what you think of Iowa Governor Chet Culver and the wise band of bumblers who spend a few months every winter under the golden dome just east of downtown Des Moines (and we’re talking about both sides of the aisle here), at least they didn’t hatch a plan to scare the crap out of tax delinquents like the fine elected officials from Pennsylvania.
[tweetmeme source="admavericks"]
Check this out (yes, it’s a real spot):
If that’s not bad enough, listen to the radio spot here. And, visit the website here. Every state in the country is hurting for revenue right now. And there are definitely people who don’t feel the need to pay their fair share in taxes (although we’re of the opinion here that we’re all forking out enough money to the government, they’re just stupid in how they spend it). However, if you really know who the offenders are, why not just stop by and pick up your check … and save all the money you’re spending on media to scare the 85+% of the people who are law abiders.
We’ve gotta give some major props to Brushfire – a New Jersey based ad agency who was not only able to win the business over every ad agency in the state of Pennsylvania (where have we seen this before?) but also able to sell this concept to the layers of state decision makers. It’s definitely a bold, attention-getting message. But playing the George Orwell card? In a time when there is more distrust in our government system than there has been in a long time, calling your citizens criminals, scofflaws and mooches is just over the top. Anyone disagree?
Luckily, bad boy Pittsburg quarterback, Ben Rothlisberger has been making news lately, or this would be the lead headline for weeks.
Congrats Pennsylvania, you’re our worst of the week.
Author: Ad Mavericks
www.lessingflynn.com
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, you tackle so many things with this post I don’t know where to start. I guess I will leave the politics of your post out in my response, because I feel you guys pretty much nailed that on the head. The only other place to go then is to say it appears the firm hired to pitch this concept had no understanding of what the great people in PA wanted to accomplish, or the message was so jumbled they just flew by the seat of their pants
Do they actually think people who have withheld their taxes will be scared of some futuristic commercial?
Ohhhh, don’t scare me people!
I would put this piece in the same category as the Census marketing, which I belive you guys touched on previously…they both are horrible uses of marketing and both appear to have not understood either their intended customers or the mediums which they decided to approach said customers.
Wow, incredible. Where were the “we shouldn’t do this” police in state government when you needed them?
Okay….so as a resident of PA for 15 years (New Yorker by birth and my formative years in NY) I feel I can chime in on this. When I first saw this commercial I thought of the “Really” segment on SNL. Really, your flying a satellite over our houses to track bad people down? Agree with your assesment that the people who cheat on their taxes need to be held accountable but the google map of your house makes me feel quite uneasy. This state has created its own mess…..can I start with the property tax relief that the slot machines were going to bring us? (uh, by the way, its been 3 years and I aint seen my property taxes reduced yet!)
Bottom line….government hasnt “gotten it” for a very long time and they look at their citizens as an ATM for their whims and desires. That cuts both ways, so please, no Dem vs. Repub responses. Time to put your Big Boy pants on and get to work PA legislators (2nd highest paid in the U.S. I might add)! Oh, by the way Claire we don’t have any of the “we shouldn’t do this” police in our state gov’t.