Rick Scott Spends 500K Just to Piss Off Women

For those few left in this state who will admit to voting for Rick Scott, one justification was "yeah, he's a crook, but at least he's got bizzzzness savvy".

Let me dissuade you of any remaining hint of competence.

I give you Rick Scott, who along with his "Enterprise Florida", paid $205,000 for a new logo/brand to lure companies to the Sunshine State.

TA-DA!!



Rick Scott then proceeded to spend $380,000 on an advertising blitz to promote this piece of $*&+.

Yet besides the obvious question of "Why the hell did this cost so damn much", there were other, bigger problems with the logo.

Namely that the logo's super clever orange necktie isn't exactly appealing to women executives. This is particularly offensive since Florida ranks 4th in the nation for woman-owned businesses and outpaces the national average by nearly 50 percent.

More than one columnist has suggested adding to the tagline: "Florida is the perfect climate for business... if you're a man.

The chief marketing officer for Enterprise Florida vigorously defended this logo, saying "the agency would never intentionally do anything to set out to offend women."

(I'm no marketing guru like these guys, but I'm pretty sure if a rollout of a campaign has to include the words "would never intentionally do anything to offend"--is probably an indication it wasn't the best choice.)

OH.. and this being the Scott administration, you know this gets a lot worse.

The winning company? The ONLY FREAKING OUT-OF-STATE firm that bid!:

Huffington Post

Despite a mission to "facilitate job growth for Florida’s businesses and citizens," Enterprise Florida paid Nashville, Tennessee firm North Star Destination Strategies $205,000...The only bid from out of state

Wow. The only thing that would make that smart even worse IS THIS:

North Star's pitch was $76,000 higher than Tampa’s woman-owned ChappellRoberts, the next closest competitor, reports Biz Journals.

You read that right. A woman-owned business, right here in Florida, lost out to a Tennessee company which significantly overbid them.

But to be fair, if you really want a sexist logo, you never let dames do it.

Despite being offensive to local businesses and women, what's even worse is that it just plain sux. Don't take my word: the former global brand designer for Procter & Gamble said it isn't even effective:

NBC News

"A generic brand statement as a tagline is a throw away, particularly when it is a blatant overstatement. In my opinion, 'The Perfect Climate For Business' provides no relevant point of difference for CEOs to associate with Florida," he wrote. "Positioning Florida as the perfect business climate is puffery."

Plus, it's just plain outdated in an age when many businesses — particularly in steamy Florida — are "rejecting ties as required dress code," he wrote.

Rick Scott and Enterprise Florida may be fine with it despite the blowback, but at least the good ole boys at the firm got the message and decided to include some women in their release of the video.

And by women, I mean in the background. Sometimes. And just their legs.... (look. real. hard.)