Walker ad on gas tax will run on service station screens
MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker is making his pitch to voters as they fill up their tanks.
His newest ad isn’t on TV but can be seen on 3,000 screens mounted on gas pumps across the state. In it, the GOP governor tells viewers his Democratic opponent, state schools Superintendent Tony Evers, is willing to raise the gas tax.
“I’ll lower taxes and keep fighting for you,” Walker says in the ad.
Walker has focused on the gas tax — along with other taxes — for months. By running his latest spot at the pump, he will invariably reach voters at a time when they are thinking about gas prices.
Thomas O’Guinn, a marketing professor at the University of WisconsinMadison, said the gas station spots are part of a trend of putting ads anyplace where they might capture people’s attention.
“They’ll put them anywhere,” he said. “They’re above urinals now.”
Running ads at monitors mounted on gas pumps may prove to be effective because they catch people at a relatively idle moment, he said. At home, TV viewers can leave the room or change the channel when an ad comes on.
“I think it’s a pretty good medium,” O’Guinn said of the gas station screens. “You’ve got nothing to do but watch the ad.”
In his ad, Walker argues — as he has at other times — that Evers would raise the gas tax by as much as $1 a gallon. That would quadruple the existing tax of 32.9 cents.
Evers has said he would be willing to increase the gas tax to take care of the state’s roads. He’s called it “ridiculous” and a “lie” to say he would raise it by as much as $1 a gallon, but has declined to say how much of an increase he would accept.
Walker’s ad comes as Evers puts his focus on reducing prescription drug costs.
Evers released a pair of ads Tuesday touting his plan to keep costs down and prevent price spikes.
One features a woman with kidney disease who says she has to take a pill that costs $200 a day. The other features a woman with breast cancer who contends Walker has played politics with health care.