Trump Called for a Wall With a Door – but Try Telling That to His Supporters
“It’s gonna be a great wall. This will be a wall with a big, very beautiful door because we want the legals to come back into the country.” – Donald Trump, August 23, 2015
Over 100 million people watched the 51st annual Super Bowl Sunday night, so it’s no surprise that a company many people have never even heard of, which spent an estimated $5 to $15 million to air a beautiful and highly-controversial ad found their servers crashed as millions tried to watch it online.
84 Lumber is a privately-owner building supply company based in the town of Eighty Four, just 20 miles south of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Run by Maggie Hardy Magerko, daughter of founder Joe Hardy, the company operates in 30 states and hads revenues of $2.9 billion.
Shortly after 8 PM EST Sunday, millions of viewers watched a beautifully-produced 90-second ad featuring a Hispanic mother and daughter begin a journey to come to America. It was certainly an unconventional ad for the Super Bowl, but there were several other ads clearly opposing President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies too.
As the ad concluded, viewers were told there was more to the story of the mother and daughter’s journey, and were directed to visit the company’s special website to see the whole story. In seconds the site crashed and wasn’t fully restored for hours.
Fox, by the way, reportedly banned a version of the ad they saw as too controversial. 84 Lumber recut a version, but Fox rejected it again. Hence the longer, nearly six-minute ad online that’s pretty much a short story:
The ad ends with this statement: “The will to succeed is always welcome here.†On Facebook this version (there are several) has been seen 1.2 million times. On YouTube, the longer version (above,) dubbed, “The Entire Journey,” has been seen 2.8 million times. Two other versions combined have been seen 2.5 million times.
Nevertheless, many were furious – not that the site crashed, but that an ad aired that, they say, appeared to support illegal immigration – despite President’s Trump’s description of “a wall with a big, very beautiful door.” Thousands shared their anger on social media, with nasty comments like these posted to 84 Lumber’s Facebook page:
But many others applauded 84 Lumber:Â
84 Lumber, prepared, fought back on social media. On Facebook, they responded to many negative comments, saying, “We do not condone illegal immigration. The journey of the mother and daughter symbolizes that grit, dedication, and sacrifice. Characteristics that we look for in our people at 84 Lumber.”
Magerko says the ad does not support illegal immigration, and in a New York Times article days before the Super Bowl, Magerko says she voted for Trump.Â
“I am all about those people who are willing to fight and go that extra yard to make a difference and then if they have to, you know, climb higher, go under, do whatever it takes to become a citizen. I am all for that 110 percent,†she told the Times.
The ad was designed as a recruiting tool. 84 Lumber is facing a labor shortage – they even use their Facebook page to post job listings – and the Times says “the ad was meant to recruit employees in their 20s ‘who really believe in American dreams,'” according to Magerko.
84 Lumber took to Twitter to tease out the ad in the days before the Super Bowl:
And later, supported it there too:
After the ad was first rejected, the company that created the ad said, “84 Lumber challenged us to create a thought-provoking 90 second spot that would tell the world who 84 Lumber is and what they stand for – a company looking for people with grit, determination and heart, no matter who they are, where they come from, or what they look like.”
They’ve succeeded.
And given that the majority of Americans do not support Donald Trump, his immigration policies, or his wall, 84 Lumber appears to have made a good choice from both a business and political standpoint.