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What was 84 Lumber thinking with its Super Bowl ad?
The New York Post ^ | February 6, 2017 | Kyle Smith

Posted on 02/06/2017 1:11:40 PM PST by BradtotheBone

Uplifting and patriotic ads are a staple of the Super Bowl, so last night the astonishing cynicism of that 84 Lumber ad really stood out. “Come on, illegal immigrants: Risk your lives, drag yourself across the harshest terrain and endure the most agonizing hardships. We need the cheap labor!”

In the 90-second spot for the construction-materials company, a Latino mother and daughter who are apparently sneaking across the southern border of the U.S. rise in the dark, walk along a barbed-wire fence, clamber aboard the boxcar of a moving train and wade across a river.

In the full-length, six-minute version, which the company said was rejected by Fox for being too political, the mother and daughter are despondent when they encounter an enormous wall in the desert. Then the little girl presents the mom with a crude American flag she has assembled from scraps of plastic bags, and the pair discover a gigantic set of doors in the wall. They proceed to stroll right through.

The ad is an unmistakable invitation to lawbreaking from a building-supplies company that, because of the industry it represents, is strongly associated with illegal immigrants. A Pew survey conducted between 2007 and 2012 found that construction was the sector that employed the second-largest number of illegal immigrants, after the service industry.

The guy who made the ad all but admitted the purpose of the ad was to draw illegal immigrants to work for the company. Michael Brunner, the CEO of Brunnerworks, the agency that created the spot, said its purpose was threefold: To generate awareness of the company, create pride in its workforce and fill jobs. “We’ve got over 400 positions that we’re looking to fill at all levels, at all capacities,” Brunner told KDKA, the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: 84lumber; ad; advertising; boycott; commercial; illegalimmigrants; illegals; retail; sanction; superbowlads
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Corporations were always the left’s favorite whipping boys, and we always took up for them. They’ve long since been spitting in our faces, so fight your own battles against your allies who hate you, corporate creeps.


41 posted on 02/06/2017 2:02:24 PM PST by Rastus
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To: PGR88

we need a list of all the big companies whose ‘managers’ have misused their positions trying to force their crazy personal politics on us
(instead of tending their duties)...


42 posted on 02/06/2017 2:04:20 PM PST by faithhopecharity ("Politicans are not born, they're excreted." -- Marcus Tillius Cicero)
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To: Buckeye Battle Cry

I don’t think I have been in one and know that I never will.

Lowe’s is the main one for me in my area.

HD is a few minutes further.


43 posted on 02/06/2017 2:11:28 PM PST by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: BradtotheBone

84 Lumber is making a huge gamble by using a hot-button political issue as a recruitment tool. The problem is the Super Bowl ad seems to be directed toward attracting people from outside the United States to join their firm while soliciting sympathy for the targeted foreigners’ plight. It would seem to be wiser to direct recruitment efforts toward American citizens. Generally speaking, mixing politics with business is probably not a great idea.


44 posted on 02/06/2017 2:23:08 PM PST by lakecumberlandvet (APPEASEMENT NEVER WORKS.)
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To: BradtotheBone
The guy who made the ad all but admitted the purpose of the ad was to draw illegal immigrants to work for the company.

Sounds like a company that needs to be heavily investigated, and if found to be breaking the law, fined and/or imprisoned.

45 posted on 02/06/2017 2:42:26 PM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: DiogenesLamp

84 Lumber is where the illegals go and wait for contractors to pick them up. Here they line up at 6am. Want 4 roofers? Go to 84 Lumber.


46 posted on 02/06/2017 2:43:52 PM PST by anton
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To: Dilbert San Diego
Why is it, when companies decide to weigh in on some social/political issue , it seems that they want to bend over backwards to prove they are liberal.

It seems time after time, these companies are pushing a liberal viewpoint with advocacy ads or their corporate policies.

Why the need to show they are liberal??? Hard core liberal radical types who will be impressed By this, are about 20% of the population. While many may be indifferent about corporate positions, they are risking that far more than 20% could take offense and take their business elsewhere. So why do they feel compelled to do it???

A prospect I find frightening is they are doing it to survive. The Liberal Fascist state has become so powerful that they want to get out in front and demonstrate they are good little Nazis before the baleful glare of the Social Justice Warrior monster falls on them.

In the 1930s, some Germans would put up anti-Jew signs so that the brownshirts would leave them alone. I think this is something similar.

They are afraid of the left. They aren't afraid of us.

47 posted on 02/06/2017 2:53:51 PM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: DiogenesLamp

Given the production time for an ad AND the fact the real advertisement WAS NOT ALLOWED, this was not an accident.

The idiot suits at 84 (they are still in business?) thought it would be Hillary as usual. (iow they made a “screw America” ad)


48 posted on 02/06/2017 2:56:00 PM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Strac6; Dilbert San Diego
AGAIN, of course not advocating violence, but when America gets really pizzed off, ever been to a lumber yard fire?

If they had pissed off the left, that would be almost a certainty. This addresses the point I made to Dilbert San Diego above.

49 posted on 02/06/2017 2:56:30 PM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: Chaguito
I don’t see roasting going on at FB. I see complaints being met by a very strong group of supporters of the commercial.

I hate Fascist book, but I took a look at their page, and that is also what I saw. Lots of supporters congratulating them, and a few people criticizing them.

50 posted on 02/06/2017 2:59:01 PM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: anton
84 Lumber is where the illegals go and wait for contractors to pick them up. Here they line up at 6am. Want 4 roofers? Go to 84 Lumber.

Don't see how it directly benefits this lumber company. They could have said nothing and kept the status quo, but now they have put themselves on a lot of people's radar in a very bad way.

51 posted on 02/06/2017 3:01:44 PM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: BradtotheBone
I can see why they need employees from Somewhere - I was in the local 84 a couple of years ago in the late fall. The outdoor temp was in the low 30’s, and so was the indoor temp! Pa winter weather and they don't even heat the building - I'm sure the employees don't stay long...
52 posted on 02/06/2017 3:05:03 PM PST by Kay Ludlow (Government actions ALWAYS have unintended consequences...)
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To: BradtotheBone

The other one I hated was the Coca Cola ad with America the Beautiful being sung in foreign languages with only three or four lines in English. Telling foreigners they don’t have to learn English or become assimilated, and we should all just celebrate it with a Coke. I won’t be buying any Coke products anytime soon.


53 posted on 02/06/2017 3:14:06 PM PST by Hugin (Conservatism without Nationalism is a fraud.)
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To: mikeandike
I think the purpose of the add was to encourage Mexicans to jump the border illegally so they could work for them.

I think it's more that the contractors who use the store are hiring illegal day laborers in the parking lot.

54 posted on 02/06/2017 3:23:14 PM PST by x
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To: BradtotheBone

I’m all for boycotting companies that support leftist causes, but can someone show where this commercial endorsed illegal immigrants or lumped them in with legal immigrants?


55 posted on 02/06/2017 3:34:57 PM PST by TwelveOfTwenty (Trump has been producing jobs, while all the left has been producing is excuses for why they lost.)
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To: longtermmemmory

Has there ever been a six minute ad on the Super Bowl?
I’m guessing that the 6 minute version was intended to be rejected.


56 posted on 02/06/2017 3:35:30 PM PST by scrabblehack
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To: BradtotheBone

You can boycott if you want but I want more action than that and I never give them any business anyway.

I want an investigation of 84 lumber and whether they are hiring illegals. As part of securing the borders I want action by the feds to put pressure on companies that hire illegals.


57 posted on 02/06/2017 3:35:37 PM PST by plain talk
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To: BradtotheBone

Kept thinking what would happen to these two if they really came over the border like this. Rape and murder, most likely.


58 posted on 02/06/2017 3:37:32 PM PST by CityCenter (Why worry about Peak Oil when you have Peak Outrage?)
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To: plain talk

Nothing like pressure treated wood!


59 posted on 02/06/2017 4:06:29 PM PST by Phil DiBasquette
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To: Grampa Dave

Did you forget Magnatone guitars whose CEO threatened Trump?


60 posted on 02/06/2017 4:09:31 PM PST by Phil DiBasquette
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