Gov. Scott Walker Wants to Spend $6.8 Million Convincing Millennials to Move to Wisconsin

Photo credit: Randen Pederson, CC BY 2.0.

I am very rarely ahead of the trend, but as soon as I announced that I was moving to Cedar Rapids, I heard from so many people who said “I’m also moving to a smaller city,” “I’ll probably do something like that soon,” or “I bet a lot of people our age will make those kinds of moves.”

Well, if you are considering leaving an expensive metro area for somewhere with a lower cost of living, Gov. Scott Walker is hoping you’ll choose Wisconsin—and he’s ready to spend $6.8 million on an ad campaign convincing you to move.

As Wisconsin Public Radio reports:

The campaign will target millennials by focusing on things like cheaper homes and shorter commutes in Wisconsin, compared to urban areas in neighboring states.

“Some of the exciting things that millennials are looking forward to or wanting to be a part of — we’ve got them in abundance in the state of Wisconsin,” Walker said.

No, he never clarifies the exciting things. I wonder if any of them are related to, as Mother Jones puts it, “the dire teacher shortage created by Walker’s anti-union law.” (You can add your own Scott Walker complains in the comments.)

I’m really curious to see what these ads look like. I’m envisioning a combination of “cheesy montage of young people pursuing outdoor activities before clinking glasses of beer and wine” and “man in ill-fitting suit explains Wisconsin’s economic opportunities while a list of careers scrolls past his torso.”

Would you move to a new state based on an ad? What kind of ad would it take to convince you?

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