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On Tuesday, the Fayetteville City Council approved spending nearly $20,000 dollars to buy paid infomercial time on the infomercial show “Today in America.” See the Fayetteville Flyer coverage here.  See my previous post where I raised questions that the circumstances of this show contacting Fayetteville was a scam here. 

I guess we can at least be grateful that the company isn’t based in Nigeria.  We’d probably end up losing more than 20k.

At the same time, we should be ashamed that we aren’t spending this money locally.  There are great videographers at the UofA who could do a better and less expensive job.  So much for buying locally.

The biggest “scam” aspect of this entire enterprise is how the city seems to believe that they are somehow special to the show’s producers.  They continually point out that Today in America has a special interest in us.  In one news story, Mayor Jordan and Lindsley Smith characterize the show’s producers’ interest like this:

In the case of the local segment, the producers contacted Fayetteville officials several weeks ago to inquire about shooting the piece, said Mayor Lioneld Jordan. The production company took interest in the Fayetteville Forward economic development initiative Jordan used to ask residents what sort of community they wanted Fayetteville to be.

Lindsley Smith, the city’s communication director, said the show’s producers are also interested in taking a closer look at what contributes to what many see as Fayetteville’s high quality of life. The segment will highlight why Fayetteville is a top environment for business.

40/29 recently carried this quote:

Fayetteville wasn’t chosen randomly. The show’s producers focus on cities they say are hidden gems: nice places to live, with plenty of business opportunities, and communities that are still growing.

Like I pointed out in my earlier post, Today in America casts a broad net and will feature a story on anyone and everyone who is willing to pay their fee.  Here is a report saying the same from CBS MoneyWatch.com.

I’m not saying we aren’t special, just saying that you shouldn’t have to pay to be made to feel special.  Wait, isn’t that the plot of a recent Soderbergh film?

UPDATE: The NWA Times has a great piece about this in today’s paper.  In addition to expressing skepticism about the authenticity of Today In America’s interest in Fayetteville, they remind us that this is the same administration that was considering furloughs and asked voters to give them the power to re-allocate park development funds.