Anchorage School Board candidate Mark Anthony Cox’s face made its way around town, emblazoned on the back of People Mover buses.
The ads quickly drew complaints and the city removed them over the weekend.
While the ads were technically for his landscaping business and not his campaign, Cox’s name appeared in larger font than the name of his business or any information about his business. He uses the same photo on the signs that he uses for all of his political campaign material.
The ads don’t require the same donor disclosure as one explicitly for his campaign would. However, they violate the policy banning political ads on People Mover buses. People Mover is a division of the Municipality of Anchorage.
Cox is running against incumbent Andy Holleman for school board. On Friday, Holleman’s campaign sent a letter to the city’s marketing director, stating the ads violate the city’s policy on bus ads and asking they be taken off buses immediately. The campaign argued that by advertising in a space where his challenger can’t, he gets an unfair advantage.
Cox’s ad is for Royal Contractors, LLC. Public records show that a business license was issued by the State of Alaska for the company on January 11. Two days later, Cox officially registered as a candidate for Anchorage School board. Spending for Cox’s recent People Mover ads is not listed in his financial disclosure reports.
Cox started a sole proprietorship also called Royal Contractors in 2022, shortly before launching a previous, unsuccessful campaign for school board. During that campaign, he paid his own company $3,000 to put up campaign signs. Rachel Ries, a candidate for South Anchorage’s Assembly seat, also paid Royal Contractors $6,000 to put up signs in her unsuccessful 2022 campaign for school board.
The People Mover ad included the same phone number listed on his campaign registration. Royal Contractors LLC advertises snow removal, landscaping and maintenance but his business license lists his company as providing administrative support, waste management and remediation services.
Some businesspeople, such as real estate agents and lawyers, use their image as a key component of their advertising. In those cases, they themselves are the brand more than anything else. However, that is not often the case with landscaping businesses.
Studies have shown that name recognition can directly increase voters’ support of a candidate, particularly in lower-information local elections. People Mover advertises that “bus ads can’t be fast-forwarded, clicked away or tossed aside” and are more memorable than print or television ads.
