Second-Stupidest Government Ad Campaign Ever

U.S. launches media campaign to deter illegal border crossings

The U.S. government is launching two new media campaigns to try to stop immigrants from attempting clandestine boarder [sic] crossings and trying to sneak children into the country in car trunks, engines and even gasoline tanks. One ad unveiled Thursday shows a young girl gasping for air inside a car trunk while her mother bangs desperately on the lid as the vehicle sits snarled in traffic.

I'm not going to comment on why the deterrent impact of this ad will be zero because I doubt there is a single person who does not immediately grasp this. Here are some non-obvious points, however:

There once was an even dumber ad campaign in the New York subways, back in my day when turnstile hopping was much more widespread than it is post-Rudy. I grew up in the neighborhood of New York City distinguished for having the highest murder rate. Although there was no lack of money for video rentals stores, takeout Chinese food or fireworks, there did not seem to be much available for subway fare. The ad, which showed a turnstile hopper, read "You may be saving a dollar but you're costing us x million dollars a year in lost revenue." I guess there was a point, actually. Back then there was no ability to e-mail mass virus alerts and "Microsoft is going to donate a lot of money if we just keep forwarding this e-mail chain" messages so this was an alternate way of alerting large numbers of people of the author's lack of intelligence.

People rightly note that business engages in "idiotarian" behavior as well. However, there are limits and lessons learned. For example, few people know that the most celebrated business failure, the Ford Edsel, was followed by the most successful car release since the Model T. The Edsel was a test of an inaccurate hypothesis about reality (that consumers were primarily segmenting by class); the Ford Thunderbird was a successful one (that consumers were primarily segmenting by lifestyle). This is one of the many reasons in favor of limited government. The Ford Edsel helped make America into a superpower and any country with the moral clarity to adopt limited government has the potential to become a superpower as well. The Jews certainly achieved extraordinary financial achievements throughout history by limiting government involvement and by constantly migrating to places with the economic freedom associated with limited govenrment. Even today when American Jews spend their lives voting for higher taxes, the place with the highest Jewish immigration is probably Florida, which has no state income tax. My stepfather, for example, spends six months and one day in Florida for tax benefits. It's time for Jews to vote with their ballots the way they have always voted with their feet.