The ongoing controversy over the Department of Tourism's provision of free trips to Bermuda Premier and Tourism Minister Dr. Ewart Brown's son's charity event at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles seems to have raised a fair amount of attention.

Indeed, it may be that the public is more interested in this than the fight in Parliament over the rights of MPs to ask questions or get them answered.

If that's true, it may be because the Playboy affair is slightly more salacious and titillating, given that it involves a tantalising mix of gambling, sex and politics, even if the amount of money involved is reasonably small.

On its own, it may seem to be a small matter, but it does raise serious questions about how Bermuda is promoted overseas, what charities benefit from these promotional activities and the criteria used to choose them.

Based on its admittedly rather thin website, Dr. Kevin Brown's Urban Health Institute of Los Angeles seems to do admirable work, enabling medical professionals to work free of charge in developing nations and at disaster sites.

It is worrying that there is not much detail on the website of the work that is done, nor of the charity's financial position, which should concern a donor as it does its due diligence.

Nonetheless, it seems to do good work. Why should Bermuda provide free trips as prizes at its fundraiser? The primary reason is not altruism but to raise Bermuda's profile among influential people who may choose to visit the Island themselves.

Dr. Brown Sr. has long promoted this as a way of putting the Island back on the map as a "hot" tourism destination. Thus Bermuda has offered free trips as prizes to a number of charities throughout the US.

None seem to be especially well known, but most are centred in well heeled areas and boast wealthy and successful memberships. This may seem too commercial when dealing with charities, but the purpose of Tourism's involvement is to boost business to Bermuda.

At the same time, it is important that the events themselves fit the image that Bermuda wants to project, and here one wonders whether a gambling event featuring body painted women at the Playboy Mansion is the most appropriate event for a destination that frowns on casinos and nudity. Dr. Brown may be injecting a little too much pop and sizzle into this equation.

Then too, if Bermuda is going to go "Hollywood", it could do better than the decidedly B List celebrities ¿ with the notable exception of the fine actor Don Cheadle ¿ who attended the Playboy Mansion event.

There are also legitimate questions about how charities get onto the shortlist of events that Tourism will sponsor. According to a Government statement, Tourism does not actively seek out charities to support. Instead, the charities come to Tourism and if they meet a set of criteria that have not been explained, they will get prizes. The problem here is that no matter how worthy the cause, Dr. Brown Sr. will inevitably face suspicions of nepotism.

He has done little to negate this, especially given the low profile of this charity programme. When that's the case, who you know may well count for more than the worthiness of the cause ¿ or its promotional value to Bermuda.