Home Depot helped nail the election victory for George W. Bush. The home improvement giant’s founder, Bernie Marcus, was one of the major contributors to a pro-Bush TV ad called “Ashley’s Story,” which featured President Bush hugging a little girl whose mother had died at the World Trade Center. The heartstrings spot was backed by the most expensive TV ad buy of the campaign, according to salon.com, which ran in nine “battleground” states — Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri — on both network and cable channels at a cost of $14.2 million. The ad was paid for by The Progress for America Voter Fund. Home Depot’s Bernie Marcus tossed in $1 million specifically for the “Ashley’s Story” ad. So Home Depot shoppers helped pay for that Bush ad. The Ashley ad was described as a “memorable, motivating, feel-good ad.” The ad was designed to show Bush as a protective, compassionate father figure. The ad also included a strong religious subtext, revealing Bush “as a healer who literally saved Ashley from her despair; a theme that certainly resonated among religious voters who overwhelmingly supported Bush,” said Salon.
When many Americans shop at Home Depot, they may not think of their purchase as contributing to the election of certain politicians. But Bernie Marcus had certain politicians in mind. They happen to be the same politicians that helped the company get rid of bothersome tariff legislation that allowed Home Depot to import goods like Chinese ceiling fans to replace American products on their shelves. It’s a form of business investment that keeps paying off.
