Nicely done, tourism boards, begging for cash before the cleanup is even completed, much less paid for. How about BP stops the leak first, cleans up the leak second, pays the fishermen and other Gulf workers who have lost their livelihood third, and about a dozen other agenda items before spending money on advertising.
Even as BP struggles to control the oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico and government authorities and scientists struggle to determine the extent of the environmental damage, Gulf Coast states have landed on a way for the oil company to start making amends: shoring up their tourism industry with advertising dollars.
Joe Raedle NO VACATION: Florida Gov. Crist said a campaign is ‘critical to our economic survival.’ Authorities in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida have turned to the energy giant to fund ad campaigns, fearing that their summer-tourism business will disappear as major media outlets continue to fill the news cycle with reports and images of the catastrophe. There’s a lot at stake. According to figures cited by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Gulf of Mexico’s shores and beaches stretching from Texas to Florida support a $20 billion tourist industry. “We just want to get the word out that we are open for business,” said Kenneth Montana, president of the Harrison County Tourism Commission, the convention and business district bureau on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
(click to continue reading Gulf Coast’s $20B Tourism Biz Asks BP to Foot Ad Bill – Advertising Age – News.)
But hey, if BP is just handing out money, I’ll take some too. Where do I sign up?