New Jersey Pulls Ad Campaign

Published February 17, 2014 at 9:53 am

In recent years, various events and celebrities both good and bad have put the state of New Jersey into the national spotlight and made it more known to the wider public. After the wreckage of Hurricane Sandy, it makes sense that the community and its tourist board would want to tell the world that it’s a place for survivors. Unfortunately, it seems to have done so using taxpayer money.

CBS New York reports that the Christie administration is under investigation for this ad campaign, which reportedly cost the state $25 million.

What about the ad itself? Featured in that same story, a commercial montage shows geographical areas of the state, images of resilient citizens, and an appearance by Governor Chris Christie himself, promoting the catchphrase “stronger than the storm.”

That may be true of Jersey, but it might not prove to be stronger than this scandal. NorthJersey.com reports that the ad will be retired in the wake of speculation that the whole thing was meant to promote Christie and specifically timed to coincide with his election.

Timing is everything when it comes to pieces of advertising, and you don’t want to risk accidentally giving the impression that your company is working for a competing interest when it really has consumers at heart.

The appearance of Christie in the actual ad is most likely a large part of these accusations, but in other circumstances might have gone unnoticed. As such, your company should create advertising that does its product or service fair justice without digging yourself into a hole.