Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) campaign is responding to a complaint from the Minnesota State Fair, Politico reports, and will remove the fair’s logo from their ad after they used it without permission to attack Bachmann’s Democratic opponent.
Bachmann’s new ad features a man telling viewers who are going to the State Fair that Dem candidate Tarryl Clark, a state Senator, voted to raise taxes on their favorite products at the fair, such as corn dogs, deep-fried bacon — and worst of all, beer. (In fact, the votes referred to were an increase in the alcohol tax, plus a referendum in the Twin Cities to raise the local sales tax in order to fund transportation infrastructure. The latter was not specifically targeted at the fair’s sort of products, though it would include them.)
The State Fair quickly objected to Bachmann’s ad and its use of their logo, on the grounds that the fair does not endorse any party or candidate.
In response, the Bachmann campaign has now said that while they maintain they did have a legal right to use the logo, they will “swap it for a more generic icon.”
“The focus of our advertisement is [Clark’s] record and not the logo of the state fair,” Bachmann political adviser Andy Parrish said in a statement. “Congresswoman Bachmann has been a lifelong fan of the Minnesota State Fair, and out of good faith will be swapping out parts of the advertisement.”
Interestingly, though, the ad with the logo is still on the Bachmann campaign’s YouTube page as of this writing.
