| By now, probably most of you have heard the news that campaign season kicks off officially this evening during the Super Bowl. Rick Michigan has purchased some super expensive air time. I don't question the expenditure of money for a time when so many eyes will be riveted to one event; I do question the expenditure when so many of those eyes are going to be besotten or when they are likely to enrage viewers who don't want to think about politics. The expenditure, it ought to be noted, wasn't just a buy of air time. Because Rick Michigan is obviously spending a lot of money on it, and because it's the first shot fired in this year's campaign, and because it's so high profile, it's not just a purchase of Tee Vee ad time, but also free advertising in newspapers and news services and blog around the state ... anywhere where Rick Michigan's Super Bowl ad is discussed, the Rick Michigan campaign succeeds in its effort to get his name out there. That includes right here, right now (note to the Rick Michigan campaign ... you can expect an invoice to arrive shortly). Update! ... Just a quick point here, which is that you can twang on Rick Michigan for doing gimmick-y things like buying straw polls and Super Bowl ads, but they do appear to have a cynical strategy to this kind of stuff. They buy these things, and because a) it's regarded as a regular part of campaign coverage and b) news judgment died 20 years ago, cynically assume that what they're getting isn't the advertising or the poll but the actual campaign coverage itself. In short, they might be spending money on this thing or that, but what they're getting as a sweetener to the deal is free promotional materials in the news hole of the state's newspapers. Whether all or part of it is by design or by accident, the end result is the same. |
