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States Clamping Down on Advertising

By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

In a big election year, politicians are leaving no rock unturned as they search for ways to show people that they actually care about how their taxes are being spent. Now we take our time from the national level back down to the states, where much of the past two years has been focused on getting budgets back in order.

Through the past year, we have brought attention to how states, especially tourism outlets, have gotten creative since many of their marketing budgets have been dashed to pieces. Now we focus on the legislative bodies that are making it more difficult for state agencies to get information about their programs out to those who are paying for them. The spotlight hangs over the Mississippi Senate, where Senate Bill 2736 is awaiting full Senate approval after being in the Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee. The bill, if passed, will prevent state agencies from promoting agency programs through radio and television advertising. Most of the ad dollars spent, said Senator Flowers, are in radio.

If the state agencies must advertise, the proposed bill will create a bidding process, where the agencies will show their cases and the Department of Finance and Administration will look them over. The authors of the bill believe that this process will help the state save money, add a layer of transparency, and build a better foundation for efficiency when it comes to spending tax dollars on advertising.

There are some exclusions. Newspaper advertising, PSAs, legal notices, state employment opportunities, community colleges, and universities are all excluded from the bill.

One should ask, then, is this simply a way to make state agencies consider different ways to advertise? If a business was forced to pay an extra fee, would it not consider ways to go around it? If the state agencies are smart, why would they put their advertising budgets under scrutiny by going through radio and advertising, and pursue newspaper, magazines, online ads, and other methods not regulated by the bill? Or is this your typical political theater, and the senators want to prove that they "hear their constituents" and are putting an end to useless spending by attacking radio and TV?

There are more questions than applause for this silly bill.

What about the state programs — the programs created by taxpayer money — that go unnoticed because of the lack of advertising? Running a state is like a business; it needs to advertise to get customers, too. Cutting advertising spending is just the beginning to losing a state program, hopefully its not one that the Mississippi people need.

Don't blame advertising on wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. Blame the senators who create smoke-and-mirror bills like this.

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About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

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