Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Ask an expert

Mark Dayton, media critic:
Gov. Mark Dayton, who rarely misses a chance to bash Minnesota's neighbors to the east, has branded a TV ad campaign for Wisconsin tourism as "one of the most idiotic things I've ever seen." 
He's referring to the current series of Wisconsin Tourism ads, which are based on the 1980 movie "Airplane" and feature actor Robert Hays and former Milwaukee Buck Kareem Abdul-Jabbar:
"It's one of the most idiotic ads I've ever seen in my life," Dayton said Tuesday, speaking at the Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference at St. Paul RiverCentre.

Dayton was speaking to the tourism industry group about the importance of TV advertising that promotes state tourism. He said he'd also seen recent tourism-based TV ads from both Dakotas and Montana, and found them all unmemorable.

Dayton proceeded to joke that Minnesota should pay Wisconsin to keep the ads on the air.
A few observations:

  • Using taxpayer funds to pay for Wisconsin tourism ads would be a better use of resources than a number of things Dayton typically funds.
  • Dayton should probably leave the comedy to professionals.
Let's also, for the sake of argument, compare the "idiotic" ad campaign with some brilliance issued from the Explore Minnesota folks in recent years. Here's the Wisconsin ad:


And here's a Minnesota effort that features a famous athlete:



For his part, Dayton had more to say that wasn't in the original article:


3 comments:

Mike said...

You know, given that is axiomatic amongst Dayton and his ilk that Minnesota is infintely better than Wisconsin, especially since Dayton and Walker took over their respective states, you'd think Dayton, the Strib, etc., wouldn't care a whit about how Wisconsin advertises itself. After all, Wisconsin is becoming "Wississippi" while Minnesota is booming and becoming the center of a newly-designated region called the North that Dayton's kid made up to make them feel better about living in Siberia West.

I may be wrong, but Wisconsin still occupies prime real estate in Minnesota's collective heads.

Mr. D said...

I may be wrong, but Wisconsin still occupies prime real estate in Minnesota's collective heads.

It certainly appears that way.

W.B. Picklesworth said...

Scandinavians have low self esteem.