Franklin’s Legacy of Thrift Tarnished by New York Lottery’s ‘Multiply Your Benjamins’ Campaign

Benjamin Franklin has been dead too long for him, or even his estate, to have name, image, and likeness rights. One wishes he could. Advertisers have to be mindful about how they use the face of Eli Manning or Serena Williams — but not that of the Founding Father and author of Poor Richard’s Almanac. Yet that doesn’t mean that a New York State agency should freely misuse Ben’s legacy. That, though, is exactly what the New York State Lottery Commission is doing in its multi-million dollar ongoing “Multiply your Benjamins” campaign.The campaign is undeniably cute, parlaying (sic) its latest game gimmick — a winner’s take can be automatically multiplied to a higher amount — to a play on the slang equating “Benjamins” with cash, thanks to Franklin’s face adorning the $100 bill. Think here of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s notorious remark about alleged Jewish money influence in politics — “follow the Benjamins.”In one of the ads, one of the rare lottery winners finds a crowd of Franklin lookalikes following her from latte to latte, fitness center to museum, suddenly able to buy so much more.Apart from the poor odds on New York’s, like all state lotteries — chances vary but none exceeds 1 in 100, even for small amounts — the misuse of poor, un-lawyered-up Ben is this: he would have heartily disapproved of gambling of any kind, as well as the state becoming the agent of this and other vices. (Think here of cannabis consumption). ‘Waste not, want not’: The subject of a new ad campaign by New York’s lottery, Benjamin Franklin. Via Wikimedia CommonsConsider excerpts from a compendium of his writing entitled “Benjamin Franklin on Industry, Frugality and Thrift,” published by Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute, itself originally endowed by a trust established by Franklin with the proceeds of his salary as Pennsylvania governor between 1785 and 1788, which can be considered America’s first philanthropic foundation.Franklin’s advice in his famous Autobiography included the following: “In urging careful accounting of all one’s expenses,” he wrote, in what could be direct advice for those considering a lottery ticket purchase, “you will discover how wonderfully small, trifling expenses mount up to large sums, and will discern what might have been, and may for the future be saved, without occasioning any great inconvenience.” And more famously: “Waste not, want not” and “a penny saved is a penny earned.” Not only does the Benjamins lottery ad not align with such common sense, it uses the offices of government to actively contradict them. It’s not neutral about the vice of gambling — it promotes it. Perhaps Poor Richard’s thrift counsels should be included in those small print warnings about problem gambling which Draft Kings and those ubiquitous sports-betting commercials passingly include. State lottery ads don’t even have to do that; state agencies are exempt from FTC “truth in advertising” regulations.Franklin went beyond advice about individual purchases to broader philosophical counsel: “In short, the way to wealth, if you desire it, is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality; that is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them every thing.”So it is, per Franklin, not just for individuals but nations, as journalist William Allen White, in an introduction to the Franklin Institute compendium, wrote. “While in a complex modern civilization a man who is honest, frugal, diligent, enterprising and punctual may or may not succeed, due to forces outside himself like bad health, floods, the weather, the caprices of cyclic prosperity, it is none the less true that when a nation is composed largely of individual units who follow the Franklin pattern, that nation is a successful nation.”Such timeless truth notwithstanding, 46 states now operate lotteries which encourage the opposite. The New York State Lottery Commission spends $100 million annually on advertising and other marketing, apparently concerned that, absent ongoing nudges to buy tickets, New Yorkers might keep in mind Franklin’s advice — and save their Benjamins. The current campaign is no way to honor a Founding Father in America’s 250th anniversary year.

Franklin’s Legacy of Thrift Tarnished by New York Lottery’s ‘Multiply Your Benjamins’ Campaign

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