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No High-Tech Bragging Rights
for Pennsylvania
by


This first appeared in the
North Hills News Record

Which state just announced it was going to prominently display its web address on its license plate? California--the home of Silicon Valley? Nope. Washington--where Microsoft is headquartered? Guess again.

The state that wants to convince the rest of the country its a high-tech mecca by slapping its URL on the backside of every vehicle is none other than Pennsylvania.

In an effort to reverse the region's brain drain, the state's web site will include a new feature that will list job openings in a variety of industries.

The concept is sound. Attracting the right kind of people can lure new businesses, new jobs, new revenue and new vitality to the area.

"License plates are 72-square-inch billboards advertising our state," Governor Ridge said in a recent statement. "And right now, our old plate says we are tired, worn and fading."

And exactly what does the governor think our web site says about us? Has anyone in Harrisburg actually looked at it? With free Internet clipart and a couple of hours, I could hack out a better looking web site. (Note: since this column was written, the state site has improved. Too bad it wasn't right the first time!)

The spot we now claim on the information highway screams out we're tired, worn and fading and don't have the slightest clue how to retain young techies, let alone attract new ones. Not even a newbie would be impressed by this example of our so-called technical savvy.

Touting the state's web site, however, is only part of the "Call Back" marketing campaign. The administration is also mailing a seven-minute video extolling the virtues of living in www.state.pa.us to 4,000 recent college graduates who earned their degrees here and then joined the mass exodus across the state line.

So guess who the promotional geniuses used to lure back those prized Pitt and Carnegie Mellon graduates to this unappreciated technology frontier?

One of the stars in the promotional video is Fred Rogers, the absolute king of low tech. He has to be at least a hundred years old by now, but somebody thought he'd appeal to the twenty-somethings. He quips to the camera in his nerve-grating saccharine voice, "You'll come back to our Pennsylvania neighborhood."

The mini-van driving, wide-waisted, middle-aged couple with a few smudged, crumb-crunchers may get misty-eyed and nostalgic over a plea to come home from Mr. Rogers, but recent college grads are more likely to bust out laughing and begin reciting one of the hilarious Mr. Rogers parodies from Saturday Night Live.

In yet another sterling representation of Pennsylvania's youth and vigor, the video also includes Penn State football coach, Joe Paterno telling expatriates "Pennsylvania needs winners. Come on back."

It all seems like misdirected effort. The young people who recently have left this stagnant area already know what the state has to offer.

They already know our elected officials equate building more mega-million dollar sports stadiums with progressive business investment. (Read about it!) They already know that a large portion of the workforce is more interested in protecting the status quo than embracing a global economy. (Read about it!) They already know that the state is friendly toward its own--even to the point of sending out promotional videos to those who have strayed, but slow to accept newcomers and especially immigrants who might bring change.

Fewer than one in five people in this state is from someplace else, the lowest percentage in the country. This latest gimmick is targeting a group who knew their options and still chose to leave.

We'll never reverse the brain drain from Pennsylvania by dictating to young people that they should love this place just as it is. They're not the ones who haven't gotten the message. It's the people who have stayed behind who aren't listening.

© Copyright Deborah A. Ayers 1999. All rights reserved.