Mark Winston Griffith

Ba-da Bling by the New York State Lottery: What were they thinking?

A few weeks ago I made a blog entry on these pages that flagged the disparate impact that scratch-off lottery games are having on low income communities. Now from the geniuses on Madison Avenue comes a new creepy twist to the story.

Arguably the only advertisements more crass than the rapturous "Viva Viagra" celebrations of erectile function, are the "Ba-da Bling" spots that have recently reared their ugly tails. The advertisements for this New York Lottery scratch-off game are more joint Mafia (read: Italian) and hip hop (read: Black and Latino) coon show, than sales job. Too unimaginative to qualify as parody, the television spots feature gansta types, stereotypically ripped from top-forty rap videos and Sopranos outtakes, parading around a stage extolling the virtues of conspicuous consumption. Meanwhile the Ba-da Bling page on the New York Lottery website features a picture of a young man strapped down with an absurd amount of diamonds, jewelry and dollar signs, with the caption reading: “Play Ba-da Bling and one scratch can land you $3 million. That's a lot of bling...After all, who couldn't use a set of diamond studded diamonds?"

Indeed.

The site even gives you the option of uploading your own picture to "bling yourself out."

If it wasn't so inane, it would be grotesque.

The idea of states being in the petty gambling business has always been able to pass the smell test because typically state lotteries donate most of their proceeds to public benefits, like education. It's ironic that while funding education with one hand, New York State Lottery is, with the other hand, proudly encouraging the kind of money and materialism worship that is overtaking American playgrounds.

Is this the kind of messaging and image making that New York State should be engaged in? Of course not. The New York State Lottery has been taken to task before for its advertising. In 1997, Pataki told the Lottery to tone down its "Hey, you never know" and "dollar and dream" campaigns because people were apparently too effectively seduced by the promise of quick wealth. Unfortunately, Pataki was ultimately blowing hot air, because the ads continued.

Now it's gone too far. It's time Governor Spitzer cleaned up the toxic message spilling out of the New York State Lottery.

Posted at 12:01 AM, Jan 18, 2008 in Economic Opportunity | Permalink | Comments (3)