Oh, I don’t know about the objections to this. What better way to explain the myth that ObamaCare will be just dandy for young adults than to use another well-known myth as its spokesman? Minnesota will spend $9 million to get 1.3 million Minnesotans into the exchanges, but many here are considering the Blue Ox to be quite the white elephant:

The $9 million ad campaign is supposed to get 1.3 million Minnesotans in the tent to sign up for health care. But critics call it false advertising.

“The biggest travesty here is that $9 million of taxpayer money has been spent coming up with Paul Bunyan and Babe,” GOP Rep. Peggy Scott said.

Scott says MNsure’s marketing studies, costing millions, are missing MNsure’s target audience: healthy young people.

“How many young healthy people even know who Paul Bunyon and Babe are?” Scott said.

Most of the people who know that reference qualify for Medicare, not ObamaCare. But don’t let that stop Minnesotans from leaping into the arms of ObamaCare. Except that the ads never actually get around to mentioning that this is what they’re promoting:

The new TV ads feature the iconic duo in a number of injury-riddled mishaps for which they’ll need medical care and insurance. But Scott says the campaign never mentions what Minnesotans are really signing up for: Obamacare.

“It’s going to be more expensive. You’re going to have fewer choices and there’s not going to be much privacy involved here,” Scott said.

We’ve covered the ways in which ObamaCare works as a wealth transfer from younger and poorer Americans to older and wealthier Americans by forcing them into comprehensive health-insurance policies and high premiums. That’s an irrational choice for those who don’t need to access anything more than a primary-care physician once or twice a year; hospitalization insurance and HSAs to cover routine medical care makes much more sense and would cost a lot less, if ObamaCare hadn’t all but banned insurers from offering that option.

Also, the numbers seem to be way off in Minnesota. They expect 1.3 million adults to enroll in a state of 5.4 million people? There are only 2.1 million households in Minnesota (as of 2011), and while some of those may have more than one adult, that seems like a very high number of people in this state without employer-based health insurance.

In Bemidji, where the legends of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox are treasured, the mayor declared the ads “offensive.” That will be a familiar feeling to people who end up having to endure the mandates, too.