CA vs. NV: The “Move Your Business” Ad War

I don’t know if it is a good thing or a bad thing, but we receive a fair number of press releases here. Besides the Nevada political ones (or, in other words, Treasurer Kate Marshall’s weekly notices) we’ve also found ourselves on such odd lists like that of the poor publicist who handles Girls Gone Wild impresario Joe Francis. Apparently doing time in Nevada warrants hitting up local bloggers with his side of the story.

But one of the strangest I’ve seen came over the transom last month. It was from a lawmaker, which isn’t unusual, but it was from California. And it was complaining about Nevada. Specifically, Las Vegas trying to poach California businesses. Apparently the ads the Nevada Development Authority (NDA) were running in Los Angeles riled up Assemblyman Jose Solorio (D-Anaheim) enough that he responded with California is Golden. Although after watching them, Solorio kindly posts the offending videos, I realized he needed have bothered.

Perhaps Nevada lawmakers looking to save money in our own busted budget should eyeball the geniuses at NDA for pissing away money on some of the worst ads ever. A monkey making noises or an apple farting (yeah, the sound effects editor went a tad overboard) might score points with nine-year-old boys but I don’t think captains of industry are going to suddenly decide to cross state lines because of them.

Quite frankly, the only ads worse than the ones portrayed here are more NDA ads like a reporter turning into a pig and a bunch of California actors dancing with wax lips in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater (wow, that’s smart, spend Nevada production money in the state you are ripping). The genius behind this swill is Vegas-based Shonkwiler Partners Advertising. Honestly, I think Nevada taxpayers are owed a refund as it’s amateur-hour quality at best. If this is the best a Nevada company can come up with, maybe Solorio is right.

Although, that’s not to say Solorio’s response ad is Citizen Kane. But it is better than Nevada’s and has the money line “Maybe that’s why we’re the Golden State and they’re the Silver State.” Ouch.