Arnold, Inc

Leave it to Hollywood’s pre-eminent aging action hero to bring Madison Avenue to the statehouse in new and exciting ways.

After taking over $279,000.00 in campaign contributions from consumer grocery giants Pepsi and Nestle, their products have started to pop up in his television advertising.

“The TV ad, released in May, features Schwarzenegger talking to people in a lunchroom, and places Pepsi and Arrowhead Water in prominent spots next to the governor for 1/3 of the ad…The practice, known as “product placement,” is unheard of in political advertising. In fact, political ads typically avoid using logos because companies may not want to be associated with a particular candidate or issue. However, studios receive significant payments for featuring a product in a film or television show.”

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) called on Schwarzenegger to return the quarter-million dollars he received from the companies, and for them to pay the market value of the advertising to the state because it is improper for the governor to use public office to sell corporate products. I’m holding my breath.

Ad agencies, however, must be hyperventilating at the thought of this new marketing opportunity. Campaign contributions used to to be considered just a way to buy favorable legislative and regulatory treatment. Now, it can actually promote their products, pay for their candidate’s media presence, and still retain all the benefits of a traditional bribe.

Advertisement:

One thought on “Arnold, Inc

  1. How to destroy the agenda of Arnold Schwarzenegger

    and advance a progessive agenda in California.

    http://www.boycott-republicans.com

    The following people and companies gave at least 21,000 dollars to Arnold’s
    campaign and recall effort in 2003. I have named some of the more consumer oriented companies meaning they sell a product to the public that people can easily boycott and buy elsewhere. I suggest people begin by gathering your legislative goals and call these companies and tell them that they helped Arnold steal the California governorship so unless they get Arnold and the legislature to pass your desired legislation you and other people will call them and tell them you will boycott them.

    and now the companies that helped install Arnold.

    THE GAP clothing stores
    TOYOTA TEMUCULA VALLEY
    LANCASTER, SIERRA TOYOTA
    JORDAN VINEYARD & WINERY
    VICTORY DEALERSHIP GROUP auto dealers
    WEIDER HEALTH & FITNESS
    Dean Spanos SAN DIEGO CHARGERS ceo
    CONANT AUTOMOTIVE RESOURCES
    AMERICAN STERLING CORP commercial bank
    FLETCHER JONES MANAGEMENT auto dealer
    PACIFIC WEST PHARMACY
    ARTISOFT, INC.
    HANSEN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
    CONEXANT SYSTEMS
    SCHEID VINYARDS, INC
    TUTTLE-CLICK AUTOMOTIVE GROUP
    FOOD 4 LESS
    MERUELO ENTERPRISES
    Emulex corporation
    HILMAR CHEESE COMPANY INC
    HANFORD HOTELS
    HITCHCOCK AUTOMOTIVE RESOURCES
    KEYES MOTORS
    HANSEN TECHNOLOGIES

    Print this 3′ x 6′ poster out and display it on July 4th as a protest against George W Bush
    This poster will require 45 letter sized pages and will give you a 3′ x 6′ poster of the symbol of resistance to the Bush regime that you can display on July 4th.

    Download it here and print it out from Acrobat reader.

    http://www.hoflink.com/~dbaer/bush_silver_coin_full.pdf

    We the undersigned demand that the Congress of the United states and the president of the United States enact a law to increase the minimum wage to TEN dollars an hour and also to extend unemployment benefits for all people whose unemployment benefits expired after 6 months even though they still seek work.

    We also demand that the Congress of the United States to not privatize social security benefits in any form including taking a percentage of the social security tax and placing it in private accounts. People can already create their own pensions with money after taxes in the private sector.

    We also demand that the congress make all of a person’s earned income taxable for social security FICA tax purposes and remove the 88,000 dollar salary cap. This will make social security solvent for many years to come.

    We pledge to boycott Walmart and call them at 800-966-6546 and demand they help in getting the above legislation enacted or we will never buy from Walmart again.

    We make no statement of quality of Walmart products but we maintain the right of free speech and association and of boycotting for the purpose of persuading congress to enact this part of a progressive agenda. After all the money belongs to us and we can legally set conditions for our purchases of products and doing business with any company in the United States.

    We the undersigned also demand congress and the president enact a prescription drug benefit under Medicare Part B which covers 80 percent of medication cost, with no extra premium, no extra deductibles, no means test and no coverage gaps or else we will not purchase products from the CVS, Eckerd, and Walgreens pharmacy chains. We make no statement of the quality of products sold by these pharmacy chains.

    We pledge to Call Eckerd Pharmacy Corporate Headquarters at 800 325 3737, Call CVS Pharmacy Corporate headquarters at 888 607 4287 and Call Walgreens Pharmacy Corporate headquarters at 800 289 2273 and tell them we will not purchase any products from their drug stores but will patronize them in the future if they can get the congress to pass a prescription drug benefit as described above. If a person cannot stop buying medications from the three drug store chains, I consider it acceptible to buy your medication from one of the chains but still refrain from buying other products from their drug stores.

    We also call for the complete repeal of the faulty Medicare law HR 1 / S 1 passed by congress in Nov 2003.

    Please tell your friends, family and coworkers to sign this petition.

    We do this in the spirit of peaceful resistance to a congress that refuses to enact this legislation

    If you don’t support what the Republicans did since they took over the House of Representatives in 1995 and don’t support the Republican party’s plans for this year then Join the revolution for progressive legislation and sign the petition at
    http://www.boycott-republicans.com

    Write this url on your one, five and ten dollar bills in the white areas in Pencil.

    Tennessee residents please make an effort to boycott the following companies I list in my boycott petition: Walmart and Eckerd,CVS, and Walgreens in your state and call Senator Frist and tell him unless he gets our agenda passed those Tennessee outlets of these chains will not get your business. You live at one of the biggest seats of power in the United States. Organize and use your purchasing power to leverage it into passing progressive legislation.

    Also join my activist group

    http://groups.myspace.com/revolutionforprogressivelegislation

    Sign the petition to end the war in Iraq.

    http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/stopthewar

    To punish the Republicans for stealing the 2000 and 2004 elections Call and email Wendy’s and Outback Steakhouses, 2 big Republican Party contributors, BOYCOTT Wendy’s (of Ohio) restaurant chain and Outback Steakhouse (Florida) chain until the following four situations occur:

    The people elect Democrats as governor and secretary of State of Ohio and Florida and in the majority in the legislatures.

    We implement vote by mail throughout the United States of America. This will prevent Republicans from vote suppression by skin color which happened electronicly and in person in the 2000 and 2004 elections. Demand that your state implement vote by mail with ballots easy to fill out and difficult to change or invalidate by Republican Party officials.

    Civil servants on the state payroll should keep track of voter registrations and vote counting of mail in votes in each precinct and not companies such as Choicepoint. We need to take the Republican Party out of the business of keeping track of voter registration and counting votes.

    States ban the secretary of sate from engaging in politics especially acting as a campaign official for a presidential campaign.

    Spread the messages at your grocery store too by printing out the graphics and leave it in your shopping cart when you finish.

    Look at this web page for other efforts.

    http://www.justicefornone.com/handbills/index.htm

    Thank you.

    http://www.boycott-republicans.com

Comments are closed.