PGPF employs innovative means to reach out to citizens and public officials and motivate them to tackle our serious financial challenges. Advertising campaigns have been especially effective in arming people with the information they need to fight for a better future.
On September 7, 2008, PGPF published a two-page letter in The New York Times calling for fiscal leadership from the 2008 presidential nominees, and for the American people to refrain from punishing the candidates for being honest about the nation's financial condition. A bipartisan group of influential thinkers on fiscal issues signed the letter in support, as did more than 11,000 Americans through an online petition.
One month later, on October 5, 2008, PGPF published a second two-page letter in The New York Times featuring a breakdown of the government's unfunded liabilities and promises. The advertisement ended with a request to readers that they ask the presidential candidates to confront the need for fiscal responsibility.
The Foundation's first integrated television, print and radio awareness campaign, entitled "Iceberg," launched in February 2009. These advertisements, which ran in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times and on-air during national Sunday morning public-affairs programming, called on President Barack Obama and Congress to make bipartisan efforts to address the country's rising deficit and debt levels.
Then, in November 2009, PGPF released the findings of a poll commissioned by the Foundation on voter attitudes toward the nation's federal deficits and debt. The eye-opening results garnered a lot of attention thanks to highly effective advertising. Through print and television ads, Americans learned that 7 in 10 respondents said they support a bipartisan commission to address the growing national debt and federal budget problems. The advertising also highlighted that voters rank dealing with our deficits and debt as a high priority of the Obama Administration—higher, in fact, than reforming health care and cutting taxes.