Detroit Metro Times headline: ‘Perry Johnson’s Boastful Ads for Governor Are Misleading and Include Russian Stock Footage’
The bad headlines for odd-quality guru Perry Johnson keep piling up following last week’s news from Bridge Michigan that the “prolific junk faxer” and gubernatorial candidate has been spamming the airwaves with ads that “inflate his own role” within the auto industry – a bizarre claim even he had to concede was “a bit much.”
Just now, the Detroit Metro Times released a damaging report detailing that Johnson has relied on Russian stock footage to serve as the backdrop for these “self-aggrandizing ads.” And for his pricey ads that highlight his dangerous agenda to gut public education as we know it, Johnson shows himself walking through a school based in West Virginia.
See excerpts below from Detroit Metro Times covering the fact that “no one, outside of his campaign, would say [Johnson] saved the auto industry” and read the full report here.
Detroit Metro Times: Perry Johnson’s Boastful Ads for Governor Are Misleading and Include Russian Stock Footage
By Steve Neavling
Perry Johnson, a self-described “quality guru” and the latest rich white Republican to run for governor of Michigan, launched his campaign with a $1.5 million advertising blitz in February that relied on Russian stock footage and falsely claimed that he saved the American auto industry.
The self-aggrandizing ads ran on broadcast TV, cable, radio, and the internet, touting Johnson’s statistical-based approach to improving manufacturing. […]
“When your car door closes just right, thank Perry Johnson,” a narrator says. “When you even have a job in the American auto industry, thank Perry Johnson.”
In an $800,000 ad focused on education, Perry uses stock footage from Russia that portrays a Michigan parent and child. Turns out, the footage was filmed by a Moscow-based photographer named Aleksandr Davydov, Metro Times has found. The model is from Russia.
In the same ad, Perry is walking through the hallway of a school that is actually in West Virginia.
The narrator, again, falsely claims Johnson “saved the American automobile industry using statistics and standards.”
Johnson is a Bloomfield Hills businessman who uses statistics to improve business practices. But no one, outside of his campaign, would say he saved the auto industry. […]
Johnson’s campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite said it’s not shocking that a boastful Johnson relied on stock footage outside of Michigan.
“It should come as no surprise that odd-quality guru Perry Johnson — who made his millions by outsourcing, double-dealing, and cutting corners — is spamming the airwaves with an ad that can’t stand up to his own standards of perfection. Russia is no stand-in for Michigan. These stock photos won’t make our students, parents, and educators forget that Johnson’s education agenda would siphon half a billion from public schools with a DeVos-style voucher scheme and dismantle public education as we know it.”
