Many were surprised to see the 84 Lumber Superbowl commercial which attempted to push the idea of immigrant sympathies even further by literally showing migrants journeying to the US border.

84 Lumber has a dicey past even thought its founders have a nice humble American dream story.

Following the housing bubble the company faced extreme challenges and was forced to lay off nearly everyone at the company and close almost all its stores. Magerko laid off approximately 6,000 workers and closed 250 stores.

The company then looked to the US Government to aid it applying for $20M of Federal and State loans. This was met with backlash from locals who realized that 84 Lumber was the owner of another company, called Nemacolin. A plush resort located in Farmington, PA. 84 Lumber founder Hardy bought the site in the 90s and since then the family has invested $600M into it. When 84 Lumber applied for their federal loan some residents in the area (which has an unsually high 9%+ unemployment rate) wondered why the government was supporting a family so fond of hiring foreigners.

Nemacolin is well known for its hiring of people from Ukraine, Uzbekistan, the Philippines, and other far-flung countries.

“Nemacolin Woodlands applied for 250 worker certifications and received 234, the most of any employer in the region, records show. The positions the resort sought to fill included housekeepers, janitors, laundry workers, kitchen helpers and cooks at wages ranging from $7.15 to $9.50 per hour.” A hotel or restaurant employer who offers good wages and benefits can find employees willing to fill those jobs, said Ivana Krajcinovic, a staff representative for Unite Here Local 57, which represents about 1,500 workers in the Pittsburgh region’s hotel and hospitality industry. “When an employer says they can’t find workers, that really means they can’t find workers who will work for poverty wages and no benefits,” said Krajcinovic, a union representative in the hotel industry for 18 years.

Why does a Pennsylvanian resort need to rely on foreign workers when its peers in the region have nowhere near the need?

“Other vacation spots in Southwestern Pennsylvania said they do not hire from overseas, though some have in the past. Anna Weltz, a spokeswoman for Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Somerset County, said that while the resort had once hired some Polish students through the J-1 visa program, no foreign workers were hired this year. Kennywood Entertainment, which owns the Idlewild and Sandcastle theme parks, does not bring workers from overseas. “We have such a great pool of high school and college students, we’ve never had the need,” spokesman Jeff Filicko said.”

As expected, locals were not pleased when the company then asked the people they felt weren’t qualified enough to even work for them, to foot a $15M bail out for their parent company:

“At a public meeting held in Uniontown to discuss the loan, some county residents expressed concern that the immigrant workers at Nemacolin were taking jobs that could have gone to local people. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Fayette County had an average unemployment rate of 9.4 percent over the past year and hit 10 percent in August, when 6,700 were unemployed. “That ticked a lot of people off,” said Bob Foltz, who hosts a conservative radio talk show on Uniontown-based WMBS. Foltz said listeners began calling about the foreign workers shortly after 84 Lumber requested the loan. Uniontown business owner Brian Oros, 49, has been one of the most vocal. “How can they be talking about creating jobs when they’re bringing in foreigners?” Oros asked. “I don’t believe that they can’t get people from here.””

Does this company even believe what it preached in its ads or was this just another pathetic publicity stunt from a struggling company?

“Magerko said the ad shouldn’t be considered provocative at all. In fact, she says she voted for Donald Trump in the election, and the image of the door in the wall comes directly from Trump himself, who said he wanted a ‘big beautiful door’ in his wall, for legal immigration.

What we most likely have here is a foolish corporate decision making chain which was sold on an overly controversial ad by an advertising agency which probably didn’t care about the company’s history. And however stupid it might have been, since this whole article is written about the company, I guess it worked.