As a former New Yorker, very happily residing in Virginia since 1992, I have
another explanation for the ad. It was probably produced in NYC, a haughty
and insular place. Everywhere else is "the sticks" or "the tall grass,"
places of perpetual darkness and impenetrable ignorance inhabited by yokels
and trolls. Any sane person, in the NY view, would leap at the chance for a
ticket out. Putting the "ticket out" words in the mouth of an
African-American adds an entirely new, different meaning; but the idiots who
made this ad were deaf to that. I see nothing sinister in it; just
stupidity. But I am surprised the ad made it through all the layers of
review. I wonder if it was shown to focus groups. 

Henry Wiencek