Group Tries Promoting Kentucky on Super Bowl Sunday

A group of Kentucky friends are trying to raise enough money to run an advertisement about the commonwealth during next year's Super Bowl, but it’ll take a lot of people who love Hunter S. Thompson, bourbon and bluegrass to make it work.The project is on the website Kickstarter, where projects pitched and funded through donations. Money isn’t collected until the project is completely financed. The price tag for the commercial is $3.5 million, said Lexington resident Whit Hiler.“The biggest reward isn’t a tangible. The biggest reward with this project is going to be Kentucky pride--seeing a commercial for your state that’s going to be epic and awesome during the Super Bowl.”Whit Hiler, Kent Carmichael and Griffen VanMeter came up with the idea for a commercial about Kentucky last Super Bowl, said Hiler. In April, the group took their idea to social media with a goal of making 1,000 friends, he said. “We have people posting stuff that’s awesome about the state everyday on our Facebook page and we just take that information and compile it into different galleries,” Hiler said.Their group is called Kentucky for Kentucky and the online pitch touts state culture and mentions bourbon, Hunter S. Thompson and the invention of the Happy Birthday song. It's unclear what the final product might look like because the trio has yet to write a script, said Hiler. But they may consider recommendations from supporters. The project has less than 60 days to be funded. In its first day it raised around $6,500 dollars. But Hiler said the project will allow sponsors to donate to the cause without taking away from its purpose, which is to promote Kentucky Pride.