On my way in to work a few days ago I saw this billboard. (Apologies for the poor quality photo, it was taken with my cell phone through the car window as I stopped at a red light.)
Yes, you see that correctly – a price tag on the Statue of Liberty.
Does that make you as angry as it makes me?
The ad is for the New York State Powerball and Lotto, and the slogan is: “Life Changing Jackpots 4 Days a Week.”
Now, I understand wanting to promote massive jackpots, but I cannot understand why this icon of freedom and America was chosen as the item up for sale. I find the add a bit offensive as it implies that America is for sale. At least they don’t put an actual price on the tag…
Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad if the billboard right next to it wasn’t also offensive to me in its exploitative use of the landing on the Hudson River:
Does anyone else feel the same way? Ryan is pretty luke warm on the ideas and doesn’t seem to mind that much…. but for some reason I seem to be more critical of the exploitation of positive symbols for advertising gain than of negative ones. It seems to cheapen things.
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I am not sure if I disagree with the advertising or not. I do know that it's creative and certainly gets the point across and more than likely earned a big commission for the marketing rep/firm. I also will speculate that the visual image has increased participation in the game of chance and therefore producing the desired results.
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