Your tax dollars at work: the $2.5 million Census ad
posted at 8:48 am on February 8, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
If you blinked during the third quarter, you probably missed $2.5 million of your tax dollars dissipating into the high-def ether — but fortunately, Story Balloon caught it for you. The ad, created by Christopher Guest and starring some of his regular cast members from his mockumentaries, cost the Census Bureau a fortune to run during the Super Bowl. Luckily, this year the game was exciting throughout, so people were paying attention, but is that necessarily a good thing?
I’m a big fan of Guest’s mockumentaries, but this is no Best in Show or This is Spinal Tap — in fact, it’s not even a For Your Consideration. Even if it was a laugh riot, it still wouldn’t have justified the cost, but I think the Census Bureau would have done better with a straightforward celebrity PSA explaining the importance of cooperating with the Census. This tries a little too hard and comes up short.
Of course, Hot Air readers may have a different opinion. Take the poll, designed to allow for a fair split of opinion on both the commercial and its value, and let’s see if I’m far off with my take!
Blowback
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I didn’t get it at all. I kept waiting for the punchline and it never arrived. Still, the money’s a drop in the bucket, and not all Super Bowl ads are required to be funny. If the ad reminded enough people to fill out their census forms, it’ll actually save money in follow up costs.
Red Cloud on February 8, 2010 at 8:51 AM
why is obama worried about reaching the zillions of undocumented illegal aliens to fill out the census? didn’t he give them a free phone? and he promised to pay their gas & mortgage.
kelley in virginia on February 8, 2010 at 8:52 AM
Not a particularly good ad, but the census is constitutionally mandated so I’m do think getting the word out is necessary. And with all the people who do watch the Super Bowl at least in part for the ads I’m not going to get upset over this. Much bigger things to get wee-wee’d up about.
rbj on February 8, 2010 at 8:53 AM
$2.5 million could have purchased a whole season of ads on the Mexican TV networks, during the soccer games.
And that would have gone directly to the people the Democrats want to participate in the census, rather than the demographic that watches the Super Bowl.
A real wasted opportunity.
NoDonkey on February 8, 2010 at 8:54 AM
Ed, you forgot, “Could not care less about the Superbowl or its ads”.
Jim708 on February 8, 2010 at 8:54 AM
This is just another Obama ploy to identify and control more liberal voters . . . nothing more and nothing less.
rplat on February 8, 2010 at 8:54 AM
I’ve never heard of any of the shows Ed lists, so there was no context to this commercial for me. The best line, however, was the “So everyone?” Sums up the entire ad with an “Isn’t this stoopid?”
conservative pilgrim on February 8, 2010 at 8:56 AM
I watched it. I didn’t laugh. I didn’t even smile. Of course I haven’t seen Guests’ mockumentaries and I assume you have to be familiar with them to get the humor. It didn’t work for me, but I’m predisposed to be negative on the census anyway. I plan on telling them the number of people in my house and that’s it. Nothing else.
Extrafishy on February 8, 2010 at 8:57 AM
Where is the choice, “Obscure”?
keebs on February 8, 2010 at 8:58 AM
Obama’s one-year honeymoon is over.
Conservatives, and I suppose that means some or most Republicans, need to begin tying this kind of nonsense directly to Obama.
What was the point of spending $2.5 million on this kind of ad in this kind of economy? Associate it with what the money could have been used to do.
And by the way: was this the product of the genius that’s warranting an unbelievable growth in federal employees and an unbelievable growth in federal employees making more than $100,000 a year–all in the past year?
BuckeyeSam on February 8, 2010 at 8:59 AM
Do we have absolute friggin morons decaying every part of our country?
toongoon on February 8, 2010 at 8:59 AM
Lame as hell.
Mr. D on February 8, 2010 at 9:00 AM
I kept waiting for Andy Stern and reps from ACORN and La Raza to burst in and start screaming like chickens. Oh, wait a minute…
J.J. Sefton on February 8, 2010 at 9:00 AM
Give me 2.5 million and I could do much better with a camcorder and a youtube account. Heck, it would even create a job or two.
Remember, the 2.5 million is just what they paid to get it aired. I wonder how much the actors and editing cost us all as well.
Mord on February 8, 2010 at 9:01 AM
I saw the ad when it came on, and well… I went into it disappointed about the tax dollar aspect, but that ad was an utter waste. If it hadn’t have mentioned the Census at all it would’ve been only marginally worse in terms of census-awareness.
That was awful.
Midas on February 8, 2010 at 9:01 AM
Apparently a successful shuttle launch is so routine that it doesn’t require a mention anymore.
daesleeper on February 8, 2010 at 9:02 AM
Depending on how much beer was enjoyed during the game, I’m sure plenty of people didn’t even catch the census reference…
texabama on February 8, 2010 at 9:03 AM
Some of the professional pollsters are scoffing at you.
Seriously though, I don’t really get the ad – even after watching it again. Is the ad making fun of itself? I don’t think this kind of dialog-heavy snark is the way to go for a 30 second ad on the Superbowl, and I don’t think the census should be spending much on ads to begin with.
forest on February 8, 2010 at 9:03 AM
It’s better than the “Answer the Census, so we can get our fair share of Free Government Stuff” ads they have been running non-stop on the radio.
But it’s all a waste of money. They should just run the damn census. I don’t think the advertising makes a difference, one way of the other. The only thing it might do is get people to lie, be revealing the perverse incentive of inflating the numbers (see above).
Haiku Guy on February 8, 2010 at 9:04 AM
If it had at least been a good ad, then maybe I’d be ok with it. But it didn’t even make sense, and it was hard to tell how the dialogue related to the census at all. And there are still people who want the feds in charge of their health care…
CarolinaGirl6 on February 8, 2010 at 9:06 AM
I like Guest and his mockumentaries, but this ad was lame.
myrenovations on February 8, 2010 at 9:07 AM
They should just run it on Fox News….lot cheaper and reach a broader segment of the population.
Then Media Matters could get the word out to the liberals idiots as well.
Win-Win
will sass u on February 8, 2010 at 9:07 AM
Census says that the money was a waste….better to give the money to the Vet’s…… : )
hawkman on February 8, 2010 at 9:09 AM
Glenn Beck and Pat are doing the same thing. I’m thinking about doing the same thing as well.
MobileVideoEngineer on February 8, 2010 at 9:09 AM
It irks me that gubmint uses our money to advertise itself. Period.
petefrt on February 8, 2010 at 9:09 AM
Totally lame and not worth it.
So… now I’m paying for flaming lib Hollywood actors to make ineffectual ads to air at $2.5M for 30 seconds???
I know better than that, but nobody ever asked me.
rockbend on February 8, 2010 at 9:10 AM
As a side note, I do understand why a census is needed, but I do not trust the people in power with that info.
I hope they allow me to not answer a lot of info, like race, gender, education, etc. All they need to know is the number of people in my house, 2 adults, 1 child.
jeffn21 on February 8, 2010 at 9:14 AM
Looks like a landslide. ;o)
Even if it had been funny it wouldn’t have been worth the cost. As you say, a celebrity PSA would have been just as effective at getting the word across and wouldn’t have come with a $2.5 million price tag. Of course, when you deal in trillions on a daily basis — as the Obama administration and this Congress do — I guess a couple of million seems like chump change.
Also, I’m not sure if the kind of people the Dems are trying to target with this ad would have gotten the point of it. It’s not exactly clear what you’re supposed to do. If you don’t already know what the census is and that you’re supposed to answer it, I’m not sure this ad gets that across.
NoLeftTurn on February 8, 2010 at 9:14 AM
Snapshot of America? More like a sigmoidoscopy.
They ask one constitutional question about the number of resident souls, then nine that we need not answer. Oh, and no long form this time, probably because no one filled them out.
Akzed on February 8, 2010 at 9:16 AM
A bunch of liberals at a Manhattan cocktail party: “Oh, this is hilarious!”
They should have borrowed The SImpsons like Coke did and spent the millions there.
Marcus on February 8, 2010 at 9:17 AM
92% against. At least Obama’s leadership is consistent. I really believe the majority of Americans are counting the days they can balance this Congress out where he truly becomes the eunuch that he is and not the constant threat to our basic freedoms and values.
volsense on February 8, 2010 at 9:23 AM
Don’t worry, ACORN will fill it out for them.
MarkTheGreat on February 8, 2010 at 9:25 AM
If the census is a tool to tag future democrat voters, shouldn’t the State media be running the ad for free? I’m sure there was some wiggle room for a discount there had Axelrod made a few phone calls.
caygeon on February 8, 2010 at 9:27 AM
I am a huge fan of Guest as well, even though he is a major liberal. Much of his humor revolves around nuances and awkward situations. It’s impossible to convey that in a short advertisement. This thing was doomed to fail from the beginning.
matd on February 8, 2010 at 9:28 AM
This ad looked like they lost the actual tape and had to resort to picking up discarded tape from the cutting room floor.
meci on February 8, 2010 at 9:29 AM
The libs missed a big opportunity to reach their target audience of potential new voters by not airing it in Spanish. What were they thinking?
chewmeister on February 8, 2010 at 9:34 AM
Best line from Best of Show… “What Hoppen?”
loudmouth883 on February 8, 2010 at 9:34 AM
In a venue dominated by Go Daddy girls and beer commercials, and during the nations most watched sporting event, they choose an elitist group of comedic actors that threw around a bunch of ‘inside baseball’ references.
Had they understood anything about their target market, they would have either had-A) the Budweiser Clydesdales refusing to pull the beer wagon until their driver filled out the census, or B)a faux American Idol episode where a bikini clad Go Daddy girl fills out her census form to thunderous applause.
thuljunior on February 8, 2010 at 9:35 AM
Ah well, I thought it was clever and a good way to advertise the Census.
AnninCA on February 8, 2010 at 9:36 AM
They should have spent less time trying to be funny – which they were not – and more time trying to present a clear, focused message, which they did not.
Huge waste of money, now even more disappointing upon finding out Nigel Tufnel had a hand in it. I would have expected better.
-Cnation
Cnation on February 8, 2010 at 9:37 AM
They would have gotten more publicity on the census if they would have paid NOW and the pro-abortionists to demonize it like they did the Tebow ad. Much ado about nothing but it sure got people interested in watching it.
I wonder if the actual people who are in charge of the census are as big of doofus’s as the actor’s portrayed them to be?
iamsaved on February 8, 2010 at 9:39 AM
Look people, if it wasn’t for those pesky pro-lifers, we could have this f***** census done in a week!
-Rahm
daesleeper on February 8, 2010 at 9:45 AM
I got it. It wasn’t very funny (not bad, not offensive, I could dance to it — I give it a 5).
The whole point is — $2,500,000?! Of effing tax revenue?!
This makes me quite insane.
Jaibones on February 8, 2010 at 9:47 AM
I think you just nailed it.
chewmeister on February 8, 2010 at 9:50 AM
I didn’t get it, and it was lame. Typical of the kind of useless junk this administration spends our money on.
Christian Conservative on February 8, 2010 at 9:52 AM
This was utter crap. And when I think about how hard average Americans are working to keep their heads above water… I am sick to my stomach at the WASTE of our taxpayer dollars and the ABUSE of the American People by those who waste them. To think that a liberal pantload like Ed Begley, Jr. would be getting paid with OUR MONEY adds insult to injury.
Maybe I could understand a modest sum being spent on tasteful public service announcements to speed compliance with the census. But this was no modest sum, and it was certainly not tasteful. I expect a certain amount of decorum from our federal government, not bizarre efforts at stale humor.
I imagine the idiots in Washington who planned this absurdity think they’re “cool”… but it comes off as childish. It’s like the kids are running the candy store, and their silly wastefulness just shows us that this administration is not mature enough to be responsible with our cash.
Every dollar of this expenditure needs to be accounted for and every bureaucrat involved, sent packing.
Murf76 on February 8, 2010 at 9:53 AM
Yes but,
what we’re missing is, at the current rate,
2 jobs have been “created or saved”
franksalterego on February 8, 2010 at 9:54 AM
With our debt exploding, I can’t help but think…..Mr.Obama….this is not the responsibility you plugged a few weeks ago, about getting spending under control.
On the other hand, I can’t help but think how many people could have benefitted with a months worth of groceries, who are unemployed, and all but given up hope of finding work.
capejasmine on February 8, 2010 at 9:59 AM
I’ve thought about doing that, but then I wonder if just answering one question and leaving the other nine — which are none of their business by any stretch of the imagination — blank, would just pretty much guarantee me a visit from the census taker. At least that’s what happened to me in 2000. I dodged the guy for as long as I could but he eventually found me at home. Try to tell these people you’re not going to answer their questions. They’re dang near impossible to get rid of. At least my dude was (probably from ACORN). I kind of wonder if it wouldn’t be easier to fly under the radar by just ignoring it altogether. I want to do my constitutional duty and allow myself to be enumerated, but not at the cost of being hassled by some ACORN thug.
NoLeftTurn on February 8, 2010 at 10:02 AM
This may have already been mentioned, but the $2.5 million price tag is just the cost of airing the ad. It does not include the cost to actually make the ad. Now, the Census Bureau may have been able to get it all done for free, but I highly doubt that is the case. It would be interesting if someone could find out the true cost of the ad.
BioTeachEd on February 8, 2010 at 10:09 AM
I agree with others…why is our tax money being used to advertised for gov’t affairs? Like the Post Office ads…those drive me crazy.
search4truth on February 8, 2010 at 10:12 AM
Mockumentary? So this wasn’t a live shot of Washington?
Ronnie on February 8, 2010 at 10:15 AM
Not even funny. Another shameless waste of Federal Funds that is at this point ALL borrowed money. Team Obama never misses an opportunity to drain the Treasury to display worthless crap. I thought that ACORN was disenfranchised from the census. The sooner this economically irresponsible band of clowns are out of power the better.
old trooper2 on February 8, 2010 at 10:18 AM
Right. To divvy up stuff, and get Americans to surrender even more of their private information to the ever-benevolent gubbmint.
Preparing for the census:
The Census and Despotism:
The census and the death of civil society:
And since O Duce usurped the census from Commerce, it’s all the more reason to boycott it.
Rae on February 8, 2010 at 10:22 AM
At one of the city board meetings, of which I am a member, a Census Bureau rep spoke to us about encouraging our communities to participate in the census in order to “…make sure that those communities that are entitled to money, get that money.” All the liberals on the board, which is everyone but me, nodded in ceremonial approval.
The Enumeration Clause (Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3) states that the purpose of the census is representative apportioning, not government handouts.
Every single day, progressives find another way to piss me off.
pugwriter on February 8, 2010 at 10:23 AM
What is funny is that I tried to post a comment there, it said “comment posted” and then when I refreshed it the comment had not actually been posted. Hmmmm…
Tzetzes on February 8, 2010 at 10:28 AM
I still think the $18 million website “makeover” for recovery.gov was still worse. Now, if they had bought two ad spots in a row and aired only one ad, leaving dead air for their second time slot … then they would be in the recovery.gov ballpark.
This administration is the best ever at defrauding America. If there is any justice, a court of law will come to that same determination in the not-so-distant future.
neurosculptor on February 8, 2010 at 10:37 AM
Um, I don’t get it. What, is this supposed to be a movie and they are trying to decide how to tell all the actors where its being filmed and then the emo girl compares that to the census, because that would be the first thing a 18 year old My Chemical Romance fangirl intern would think of, cuz all the cool kids are down with the census? Am I close here?
Spectreman on February 8, 2010 at 10:41 AM
No Pepsi ads one of the biggest advertiser in SB because of financial downturn yet Obamageddon feels it’s necessary to keep pushing us further into debt. I really don’t think we can get through another 3 yrs of this idiot!
xler8bmw on February 8, 2010 at 10:45 AM
We need the guy who did that epic Star Wars review to take a crack at this commercial.
Thanks to a gaggle of screaming kids at the Super Bowl party I attended, I didn’t get the gist of the ad until the very end. Until I saw the word “census” on-screen, the only thoughts I had at the time were, “this beer is getting warm, I should drink it quickly and get a fresh one” and “hey, isn’t that Ed Begley Jr.?”.
Left Coast Right Mind on February 8, 2010 at 10:52 AM
Maybe it was a cry for help. We are morons and we are from the Government and we need your help.
Lily on February 8, 2010 at 10:53 AM
+1000
Never watched a football game in my life! Don’t plan to. My wife has been known to record the Super Bowl just for the ads and I’ve watched a few of those over the years.
Oldnuke on February 8, 2010 at 11:04 AM
Just sponsor a NASCAR driver next time.
TexasDan on February 8, 2010 at 11:07 AM
The ad was just another example of government doing what government does best, waste the taxpayers money!
GFW on February 8, 2010 at 11:13 AM
The govt probably spent our money more wisely by reaching our children with Sesame Street characters singing praises about taking the census. You might not cooperate beyond giving the number in the household, but your children will be very disappointed in you: http://2010.census.gov/mediacenter/spread-message/schools/broward-sesame-st-rosita-count.php?sms_ss=facebook
jusgottabeme on February 8, 2010 at 11:17 AM
Oh, come on. How often is Obama’s mug on the television, voice on the radio?
They could have asked every talking head to please mention it in every news show. For Free. Could they not?
bridgetown on February 8, 2010 at 11:22 AM
What an abstract waste of MY TAX MONEY!
CynicalOptimist on February 8, 2010 at 11:23 AM
If they wanted to get the word out and spend a couple million, they should have just offered to pay people for filling out the forms. This is beyond stupid.
Esthier on February 8, 2010 at 11:30 AM
So … the White House can get the major networks to pre-empt their programming, free, any time The Precedent wants to babble some incoherent tripe to America, but they feel the need to buy the most expensive ad time to advertise something that needs no advertising?
Why didn’t The Precedent just call another joint session of Congress to inform everyone? It would have been more legitimate a use of Congressional joint sessions than that insane Health Scare session last year.
I think that people should be held for fraud for wasting this 2.5 million (plus costs of production), with The Precedent being where the buck stops.
The insanity that this nation is having to live through is unbelievable … and we will NOT make it through 3 more years of this.
neurosculptor on February 8, 2010 at 11:37 AM
I can’t believe 13 people actually thought that ad was funny. I think some of them voted more than once.
Oldnuke on February 8, 2010 at 11:38 AM
I don’t know about the rest of you but I see enough about the census on telephone poles and post office bulletin boards with the census hiring posters to know that the census is coming. I don’t need a 2.5 million + advertisement to tell me about it.
As to the form I will answer the question about how many live at the address and nothing else. If they send someone in person he/she will have to jump a locked gate or barbed wire fence with a posted no trespassing sign and walk several hundred yards to get to my house. Not a real good idea in the very rural area I live. People tend to shoot first and ask questions later when strangers invade their privacy.
chemman on February 8, 2010 at 11:47 AM
Listen I can take unfunny huge waste of taxpayer money. That’s normal. THIS AD DIDN’T EVEN MAKE SENSE!!! WHY GOD? WHY?!!
Rightwingguy on February 8, 2010 at 11:49 AM
Heh.
misterpeasea on February 8, 2010 at 11:49 AM
I posted this in response to the ad. Right after I wrote it, I saw the ad again on TBS. Not very funny.
King Banaian on February 8, 2010 at 12:01 PM
I want to know just who exactly is responsible for blowing our precious hard-earned dollars with that witless failure of a tv commercial, and I want them all to be quickly unemployed.
Edouard on February 8, 2010 at 12:01 PM
I have no idea what they were talking about….Is it because I’m a conservative…therefore dumb… and can’t understand the high-brow humor of the elitist leftists? Ed Begley Jr. is a flaming global warming freak so a good pawn for Obama and co…
theaddora on February 8, 2010 at 12:04 PM
Christopher Walken knows how to complete the census.
Rae on February 8, 2010 at 12:13 PM
A teacher friend of mind said she got some teaching materials for the census. I bet they’re full of interesting ideas.
hawksruleva on February 8, 2010 at 12:15 PM
The census is an interesting event. I disagree with most of you on this one.
AnninCA on February 8, 2010 at 12:22 PM
I thought the ad was confusing; it seemed to attempt irony, but I gotta say, if they were trying to reach the “not so smart” part of the crowd who watches the SB, they completely missed the boat. They seemed to be making fun of either the Census Bureau/Govt folks and/or Advertising Agency folks, but either way, it was confusing, unfunny, and the average Joe would not likely get whatever fuzzy point they were trying to make. HUGE waste of OUR money. A straightforward PSA would have been much more (cost) effective.
CatyMac on February 8, 2010 at 12:28 PM
If $2.5m was the broadcast cost, what were the production costs? I suspect that more was spent making the ad than airing it.
No government agency should have an advertising budget.
Hucklebuck on February 8, 2010 at 12:43 PM
Isn’t the census being run by ACORN?
nazo311 on February 8, 2010 at 12:58 PM
Hucklebuck nailed it…..
Advertising in general is about achieving reach and frequency of your message for the best price. Advertising in the Super Bowl used to have a certain clout, but only when it is followed by the appropriate reach and frequency. The census ad was completely dead…. and the huge questions about the costs turned the spot negative.
Being in advertising, the Super Bowl is the “Academy Awards Show” in giving us guys at the lower end of the food chain (read local agencies) a sense of what is playing well nationally. I saw very little that was truly creative and imagination grabbing in what was presented. The group that I watched the game with spent more time looking at each other and scratching our heads and wondering “huh”…..
What does that mean in the big picture…. Ad agencies are struggling and trying to stay lean. To do that you trim your expenses and make do with a lesser creative staff. This trend has been happening around the local agencies, but I didn’t realize how deeply the major national agencies were cutting.
2nd Ammendment Mother on February 8, 2010 at 1:06 PM
HA! HA! The economy is in the crapper, many of you watching this are unemployed and this is how we’re spending the money we force you to send into the federal government. We give it to millionaires who love us and make you watch. HA! HA!
What? Was I the only one who got the joke?
29Victor on February 8, 2010 at 1:26 PM
This was an ad about the Census?
JM Hanes on February 8, 2010 at 1:30 PM
Driving to work one day, my wife said, “Has this traffic light always been here?” I said, “No, it’s new.” While looking for something else on the ‘net, I ran across this stimulus watch website:
Gilbert, AZ
Energy Saving Traffic Signal Installation Riggs & Adora Trails
$250,000.00 – 10 jobs – Streets/Roads Program
WoW! 10 jobs created! I was pumped! They actually created 10 jobs to make and install that light! And it only cost a quarter million dollars! Obama is a miracle worker!
Mr_Magoo on February 8, 2010 at 1:31 PM
I don’t understand what’s so hard about the census forms…I get it in the mail, I complete it, and send it back in the included post-paid envelope. Last time I got the long form, and although it took me a long time to fill it out for all the kids, it wasn’t hard and I didn’t need someone to remind me to do it.
Can someone enlighten me?
Bob's Kid on February 8, 2010 at 1:53 PM
The ad certainly was more Spinal Pap, than Spinal Tap.
Two-word review:
“Sh*t Sandwich”
(and a very expensive one, at that!)
;)
Shepherd Lover on February 8, 2010 at 2:02 PM
I got a smile out of it, but no way this was worth 2.5 million in tax dollars.
A fifth of that much money could have gotten better results by using the Internet.
Dark-Star on February 8, 2010 at 2:19 PM
This Is Not Your Father’s Census — The United States Census in the 21st Century
Long gone are the days of completing the US census for the sake of civic duty or to ensure you are represented in Congress.
LifeTrek on February 8, 2010 at 3:31 PM
Just seeing E. B. turns me off.
I haven’t participated in the census for the past 20 years and this dim wits haven’t convinced me to do it this year.
And if your going to scold me about how it affects my daily life–save it. All I have to see is the government’s manipulation of jobs created and saved or the unemployment numbers or the uninsured to know they will manipulate this data to confirm the old adage: Figures lie and liars figure!
chickasaw42 on February 8, 2010 at 5:16 PM
I don’t think they could have come up with a worse piece of crap if they tried.
redfoxbluestate on February 8, 2010 at 5:19 PM
First thought: Damn, another government department throwing away my hard earned tax dollars.
Second thought: Thank God they wasted it on this instead of hiring more IRS auditors to bother me.
Third thought: The foregoing thought process means we are really screwed.
Over50 on February 8, 2010 at 5:50 PM
ReagansRight on February 8, 2010 at 6:20 PM