Well, that went well, didn’t it?



Last month, the Michigan Economic Development Corp (MEDC) used the “Pure Michigan” brand to brag about screwing unions by making Michigan a Right to Work state. They spent $144,000 to run a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal to do so.

This week, MEDC vice president of government affairs Jim McBryde, told the House Tourism Committee that they are putting further misuse of the successful “Pure Michigan” tourism brand to promote Right to Work on hold.

“The thinking at the time was, that while MEDC did not take a position on that issue one way or the other, the legislature passed it; it was now part of the new business climate. That’s something site selectors are interested in, and so it made sense to let them know about it,” he said. “That was the thinking. Now, (there was) tremendous reaction on both sides to that advertising campaign, and at this point any further advertising on that level or in that style has been put on hold.” He said MEDC President and CEO Michael Finney should reach a decision soon.

It became quite clear that the MEDC knew that they had screwed up when they scrubbed Right to Work links from their website when the proverbial feces hit the fan. I suspect we won’t see a return of this poor choice regarding the promotion of Michigan any time soon.