Thursday, February 23, 2006

DeVos Outsourced Ad Campaign

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos is first out of the gate with a new 60-second television ad airing across the state. DeVos' campaign manager Greg McNeilly said the ad focuses on DeVos' concern about the direction of the state economy, showing shuttered plants in Kent County. It also focuses on his vision for turning Michigan around.

Well, I have to wonder how committed DeVos really is to turning our economy around. The ad was produced by On Message Inc., a Virginia firm without any ties to Michigan that I could find. DeVos' campaign probably used the company because of their donations to various Republican candidates, but shouldn't loyalty begin at home? We have good advertising firms right here in Michigan that could have used the money his campaign spent on that ad. In fact, Chrysler's ad firm recently had to cut 200 jobs because of declining revenue.

McNeilly would not say how much the campaign is spending to air the ad, but any dollars that go out of Michigan hurt Michigan's economy. As much as the Republicans would like to blame Gov. Granholm for all of our economic problems, most citizens agree that outsourcing has played a central role in decimating our manufacturing base here in our state and across the country.

If DeVos is really serious about helping Michigan's economy - and not rewarding Republican loyalty - then he might want to consider spending his ad dollars here at home next time.

5 comments:

Lew Scannon said...

It will be sickening to hear DeVos blame Granholm for all the current state woes, when most (all?)of them are holdovers from when John Engler took a budget surplus and ran it into the ground in tax cut giveaways to people like DeVos.
And I'm sure DeVos has no problem with his wife's company being sold to Johnson Controls, from out of state, who are planning on moving more jobs out of here. DeVos'candidacy needs to be nipped in the bud, because if there's one thing we don't need, it's another Dick in Lansing.

Kathy said...

You're right about the Engler administration. People are still complaining about him to this day. It's just too bad the Dems didn't have somebody better than Feiger to run against him the last time.

Anonymous said...

This might come as a complete shock and surprise to you, but Republican and Democratic candidates use Republican and Democratic political advertising firms. The key word is political. Chrysler's firm is not a political firm. Political firms tend to congregate in places like Virginia--Close to Washington. It's called hiring talent where you find it.

If you had any understanding of advertising whatsoever (and I believe this post demonstrates that either you legitimately do not, or you are being deliberately misleading) you would understand that the vast, vast majority of any advertising budget for a statewide campaign for ANYTHING is spent within that state--paying the stations and network affiliates to air the commercial. Not only that, but what one would assume is the second-most expensive budget item for an advertising--the actual production of the advertisement--clearly took place in Michigan. To people that actually understand what advertising is and what it takes to create it, all that you're claiming was "outsourced" was hiring people to produce it--demonstrably a tiny fraction of the cost of any statewide campaign ad campaign.

So maybe for a little balance you should write a post saying that "Granholm Outsourced Her College Education," because clearly she didn't choose to spend her money in Michigan Schools and instead chose to "outsource" to California and Massachusetts--presumably due to all of the donations the residents of those states have made to Democratic candidates. Ha.

Regrettably, you'll try and counter this by talking about the "negative overall message that DeVos sends" or some other nonsense made using a similar disingenuous, blanket statement . But the fact is that you are wrong. Not only are you wrong about this, but you are repeatedly wrong with everything you state and hype when it comes to DeVos. Through this you demonstrate nothing more than what seems to be your all-consuming desire to score cheap political points and inflate your sense of moral self-worth. For a person that protests so much as to being non-partisan, it's curious that you have "Headlines from BuzzFlash" and a surplus of "progressive" and "liberal" websites. Also interesting that you bemoan the lack of a "better" Democratic candidate against Engler--who you allege to have supported. You're pretty clearly off the leftward deep-end.

In any case have a wonderful day. And please look forward to the fact that I will continue to call you on trash like this each and every time you throw it out here.

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one who notices that the lockstep bots that shill for the GOP hide behind anonymity? Excusing out of state admnistration of a state campaign by saying it is the second most expensive item on the menu is sort of like saying the second most expensive ingredient in a ten dollar bowl of soup is the 29 cent can of chicken broth.

Anonymous said...

Just more typical cronyism from the Rethugs. I bet that ad firm is the same one that slimed McCain and Max Cleland too. That takes real talent.