Hate Message?
I had been meaning to do a post on this billboard, which I see every day crossing over the Missouri River bridge into Jefferson City, just because I thought it was great advertising. Now, the darn thing is causing controversy because it “implies hate and discrimination for no reason” according to the president of the St. Louis chapter for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Give me a break! Here’s a link to the AP article that appeared on the front page of the local paper yesterday. The farmer on the billboard is Missouri Corn Growers Association president Terry Hilgedick, the sheik is a former king of Saudi Arabia. The MCGA paid for this billboard and others around the state, some with different messages, to increase awareness of the ethanol bill in the state legislature that would require a 10 percent ethanol blend in Missouri gas whenever ethanol costs the same or less than gasoline. It passed the state senate yesterday and would make Missouri the fifth state to require ten percent ethanol blends. The others are Hawaii, Minnesota, Montana and Washington.
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Bradley Looferman
You do have to admit though it is a poster designed to be sensational and to be a raw appeal to emotion.
Who wouldn’t rather buy fuel from an American farmer? But to be fair the billboard should show a Canadian instead of an Arab. (We import more crude oil from Canada than any other country. Mexico is number two.)
Of course, a billboard showing a Canuck standing next to Terry wouldn’t get the same vitriolic reaction as people drive by. After all, your average Canadian no doubt looks little different than a Midwest corn farmer. Might be missing a tooth or two from playing hockey in high school, but otherwise, pretty much the same.
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