Advertising and the Government

I was at Arby's last night and I was staring at the sign at Stocker Stadium and I noticed that the city parks department has a Twitter account. That got me thinking and watching, at what other advertising we (as in the people's government) spend countless dollars on every year. These were a few I noticed just last night.

1) The twitter account(s) for the city of Grand Junction.
2) The VA Hospital has a pretty sign that scrolls some message and tells you the time.
3) I noticed on TV there was an ad for the Census Bureau letting me know there was a census coming.
4) A city owned car drove by with a pretty emblem to let me know that it was city owned.
5) I heard on the radio that I was supposed to vote Grand Junction as the best tennis city in the country (never played tennis so I have no idea).
6) Then last but not least I click on the evening news which is a 1/2 an hour of advertising for the Obama Administration.

I was trying to find the cost of this advertising and the only number I could find was an old (2004) number of 1.2 billion that the Federal government spends on advertising every year. I am sure that it is much higher than that now.

For those of us that have lived around Grand Junction for a while, I am sure you remember the $27,000 it cost the city to create the Nike swoosh. That didn't include changing all the vehicles, street signs, and letterhead.

The point I am trying to make is that we seem to be inundated with government advertising and all this advertising costs money. Money that we don't have. Maybe the city could be dropping the Twitter and Facebook accounts, to help pay for the spring cleanup. Yes, I know they are free to use, but somebody has to type and answer the messages. Just a thought.

I guess all this advertising works though, every time I see the city emblem, I want a new pair of shoes.