Indian American candidate for governor buys Super Bowl ad time

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Indian American Democrat Shri Thanedar, who is running for governor in Michigan, has bought TV airtime during the Super Bowl in an effort to boost his name ID.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Thanedar has purchased about $114,000 worth of 30-second commercials before, during and after the Super Bowl, which will be aired live on Feb. 4 on NBC-affiliated stations.

“I have very low name ID. I’ve been to every corner of the state, but that doesn’t reach as many people as I want to reach,” Thanedar told the Detroit Free Press.

According to campaign finance records, Thanedar is mostly self-funding his campaign and has already put $6 million from his own pocket into the election.

This is not the first time Thanedar has bought an ad during the Super Bowl.

According to Craig Mauger of the Lansing-based Michigan Campaign Finance Network, in 2010, he was part of a $958,000 ad which he bought just within the first two months of his campaign.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Thanedar seems to have followed into the current governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder’s footsteps, who also was a businessman from Ann Arbor.

Many believe that Thanedar copied Snyder’s strategy. However, Thanedar disagrees.

“I’m a different kind of businessman than Gov. Snyder. I look at the campaign as an entrepreneurial venture. I’m not copying or borrowing anything from anyone else’s book,” he told the Detroit Free Press.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Thanedar moved to Michigan in 2010 and is a retired businessman from Ann Arbor.