Miscellaneous

State Agency and Authority Advertising Practices

We examined the advertising practices of four State agencies and five public authorities, and estimated that two-thirds of the $55.7 million spent on advertising by the nine agencies we audited was used to fund ads that either featured or referenced public officials – primarily the Governor. Publicly funded advertising should advance the public interest, and avoid the appearance of advancing partisan interests.  However, New York State has no regulations addressing the advertising practices of its agencies and public authorities, and no laws that restrict the appearance of public officials in such advertisements. We identified such laws in two other states and in New York City, and recommended that similar legislation be considered for New York State. We also evaluated the marketing plans for six of the nine entities and found that only one had formally conducted a review of its marketing efforts to determine the effectiveness of its advertising through measurable performance goals. We recommended other agencies develop similar plans to measure effectiveness.

For a complete copy of Report 2001-S-37 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day AGING response click here.
For a copy of the 90-day DEC response click here.
For a copy of the 90-day NYSERDA response click here.
For a copy of the 90-day LIPA response click here.