Media reports about the Salt Lake City billboard drove 4,500 visitors to the National Alliance's local website in a single week -- compared with average traffic of 100 hits a month, Walker said.
When the flap about the MetroLink ads made news here, the National Alliance got so many calls that the phone company insisted that the group upgrade its voice mail system, said Collins, the chapter leader. He wouldn't give precise numbers, but said 80% of the callers listened to the two-minute white-power message on the group's answering machine, then hung up. He said there were two angry callers but that many people asked for more information. "I had to appoint three people just to call people back," he said.
"What evidence we've seen indicates that real-world advertisement and promotion has far more impact on recruitment than online work does," said Burghart, the Chicago human rights monitor.
"They reach a different demographic," he said. Many middle-aged recruits, he said, feel more comfortable joining a group they've seen on TV or have heard advertised on the radio, rather than one that makes its presence known mostly through racist rants in Internet chat rooms.
Hate groups recognize the power of that outreach. So they intend to keep at it.
"You know the old saying: It pays to advertise," Walker said. The thought chills Marilyn Mayo, an associate director of the Anti-Defamation League.
"Only a very small percentage of the population supports them," she said. "But they always will attract a certain number -- and how many is too much?"
