The Cost Of Spin
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, Media, MoneySure, there’s the intellecutal cost, but what are the real hard costs for John and Jane Q Taxpayer.
Brandweek has more about Bush’s PR machine:
DALLAS — The Bush administration spent $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars on 137 contracts with advertising agencies over the past two-and-a-half years, according to a Government Accountability Office report released by House Democrats Monday.With spending on public relations and other media included, federal agencies spent $1.6 billion on what some Democrats called “spin.”
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Trends in spending on PR and ad contracts were not documented, but a prior study by the minority staff of the Government Reform Committee found that spending on public relations contracts rose rapidly under the Bush administration. That report found that spending on contracts with public relations firms had increased to $88 million in 2004 from $39 million in 2000, an increase of 128%.
Well, at least we now know how much it costs to sell a war.
Quick question….does this make anybody else a bit uncomfortable? I mean, I was in advertising and I know the process…and it’s not a particularly “honest” one. And when advertisers don’t outright bend the truth, 10 times out of 10 the negatives are ignored and the positives are glorified. And hey, if you’re selling soap I think that’s fine. Well, I don’t think lying is fine, but accentuating the positives is an understandable policy. However, when you’re selling ideas to the American public…I think a different standard should apply.
But hey, maybe that’s just me.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 15th, 2006 and is filed under General Politics, Media, Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 16th, 2006 at 8:53 am
My question is the following:
Hoe much more was spent on PR when we were fighting WWI, WWII, and Vietnam?
And yeah, rising by 128% in 4 years isn’t that great, but the question we have to ask is:
1. Was any of thi spendings effected by September 11th? )which obviously would not have been taken into consideration in the 2000 year.)
2. How much of our money did Democrats spend when they were in power?
Besides, even if only 200 million of America’s 300 million population paid taxes, 1.4 billion dollars amounts to 7 bucks each in taxes.
February 16th, 2006 at 10:03 am
$1.4 billion is a disturbingly big chunk of change for PR no matter how you count it. Still, without knowing how much the government has spent in a “normal” year or during other wars it really doesn’t have much meaning once you get past the sticker shock.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Brian in MA,
Are you employing the old, “EVERY administration pulls this stuff!” excuse for the administration. It seems to be a popular defense of this administration and Republicans in general, lately. While I’m sure the Clinton administration did spend some money, I doubt that it was anywhere near that amount. Where are the conservatives strict fiscal mindset about this issue? Oh- forgot it’s not a “handout”, it’s an investment into the economy, by putting the money into PR and advertising. I get it.
February 16th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Well, part of it was the $39 million in 2000. I don’t think one can make the assumption that this same 128% jump would be seen in all PR expenditures, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me.
February 16th, 2006 at 7:23 pm
“Are you employing the old, “EVERY administration pulls this stuff!â€Â? excuse for the administration. It seems to be a popular defense of this administration and Republicans in general, lately. While I’m sure the Clinton administration did spend some money, I doubt that it was anywhere near that amount. Where are the conservatives strict fiscal mindset about this issue? Oh- forgot it’s not a “handoutâ€Â?, it’s an investment into the economy, by putting the money into PR and advertising. I get it. ”
So assuming you got all your money back that Bush spent on PR this year, you could buy youself some Dunkin Donuts coffee and 2 chocolate frosted donuts. Congrats. Quite frankly if all Bush is spending on PR is a trip to Starbucks for each taxpayer, then Bush isn’t spending much money. Here, if you feel so bad I can treat you to a morning at Starbucks, the individual value of Bush’s 1.4 billion PR bill when divided by the number of taxpayers.
Moreover, the 4 year jump is vague, we’re going from pre-9-11 conditions to post 9-11 with nothing inbetween, and with no comparable inflation adjusted figures during previous wars or previous presidents. Before we start lambasting Bush for wasting our 7 bucks on advertising, it’d be nice to know whether this really is a waste of our money or a natural part of wartime politics. In other words, projecting an expenditure with nothing to compare it to in reasonably similar situations is not intellectually honest.