Why go to Hawaii?

February 28, 2003

Dear Sir,

I had the opportunity to visit Bermuda last August and I totally fell in love with the Island, I have been in Hawaii as well and I admit is very beautiful, but if I had the chance to move to one of the islands, I would pick Bermuda over Hawaii without a doubt.

I was flabbergasted when I read pictures of Hawaii were being used to promote Bermuda's tourism; not only is it deceitful, but Bermuda is by far more beautiful than Hawaii.

If the people in charge of the campaign were in fact so concerned about the cost, why didn't they send out an e-mail, put an ad in the paper, set up a picture competition, and best pictures would have been the ones to promote Bermuda, not only Bermudians would have sent pictures, but also visitors. I for one would have sent them some awesome pictures ... free of charge! Just what were they thinking, it's about time they start using their thinking caps.

CLAUDE LETO MERLO

New Jersey

Wrong, unethical, stupid

March 1, 2003

Dear Sir,

Graeme Outerbridge is correct - using a photo of Hawaii is wrong and unethical. Moreover it's stupid.

Bermuda's beaches are much prettier than Hawaii's. I can't imagine anyone even thinking in their wildest imagination that this would be a good idea.

And with due respect for Mr. DeCouto ( who fortunately didn't work for me when I was Director of Tourism) while stockshots are certainly used widely in some kinds of advertising ( Main Street USA or an airplane taking off) they have no place in destination and tourism advertising. In some cases it's downright fraud where you make a place look nicer than it is by substituting a stock photo).

But to make it look uglier than it by substituting one destination's beach for another is almost unheard of. Both your ad agency and the persons responsible for approving these ads ought to be sacked.

ANDY VLADIMIR

Coconut Grove, Florida

Mr. Vladimir is a former Director of Tourism in Bermuda.

We do have barracuda

February 28, 2003

Dear Sir,

Please allow me to respond to an article on the front page of today's Royal Gazette titled "Tourism print ads called 'dishonest'", in which NLP vice chairman Graeme Outerbridge spoke out against the Department of Tourism's use of non-local stock photos in their latest attempt at an effective ad campaign.

I have only one criticism of Mr. Outerbridge's comments, and it is this - he notes that there are no large schools of barracuda around Bermuda, and thus any diving visitors would be disappointed if they banked on the experiences depicted in the campaign's photos, which he believed to be taken in the Seychelles. I hate to chip away at Mr. Outerbridge's argument, with which I otherwise agree wholeheartedly, but Bermuda does have its fair share of barracuda and they can often be found in schools, right up close and personal for the diving and snorkelling public to enjoy. In over 2,000 scuba dives as a divemaster and instructor here in Bermuda, I have seen them and shown them to visitors on more occasions than I could possibly recall (or could, if I had kept a better log book over the years). To be fair I haven't seen the photos he refers to, and perhaps in those photos there are schools of them by the hundreds, and in that event I would have to agree that we do not see them in those numbers. However, this leads me to another point, which further emphasises what Mr. Outerbridge strongly voiced in that article.

There is no reason, none whatsoever, for the Dept. of Tourism to be using stock photos in an ad campaign - whether they are "used frequently in advertising campaigns to create an emotion" (according to Asst. Director of Marketing Michael DeCouto) - or not. Does the Dept. of Tourism honestly expect Bermudians to accept the fact that there is no suitable local material available? Is the price of local talent outlandish? Do they not feel that there are any gifted local photographers (or painters or graphic artists etc.) to fill an ad campaign with genuine and altogether appealing Bermudian imagery?

Well, perhaps not. There must be some reason; after all, it couldn't just be for the sake of convenience! So if any of the above is the actual opinion of the Dept. of Tourism, then may I humbly suggest they invite submissions from the entire population of Bermuda, and then hire the half-dozen or so more people it will require to sift through the results. That may mean one or two fewer trips across the globe to drum up business with our half-baked advertising campaigns, but I'm sure all the higher-ups in Tourism can survive on one or two less paid vacations. Maybe this is something that can get us behind Tourism again - somewhere, underneath our present day problems, is the Bermuda that people used to come in droves to visit. They certainly won't come again if our leaders in Tourism can't even pull a decent set of pictures out of their . hat.

This, of course, has to be a double-edged challenge - it is not just up to the Dept. of Tourism to find this material. It's up to us to provide it. To all those local photographers Mr. Outerbridge mentioned, who felt "insulted" that they were not used in that campaign, I can only say, Well done, I know it's an uphill battle but for all our sakes, keep it up. To those who may not consider themselves 'good enough' to submit work I say, think again. Submit work for the sake of submitting it - you may be paid for it, you may not, but at least you will have a deeper appreciation for Bermuda than most. At the very least, whether you are any kind of artist or not, go out and take a closer look at where you live - where you are from. Mr. Outerbridge may never have seen a school of barracuda here - but I have. Share what you see around you; even if you can't capture it for posterity, maybe someone else will find the perfect way. Remember, as most of us can, what it was like here when we could actually smile for a camera. It's not that far gone, and we can get it back, but it's everyone's job to see that it happens.

Still Hopeful in Spite of It All,

CP GAUNTLETT

Sandys Parish

Ad was dishonest

February 28, 2003

Dear Sir,

I am astonished to read that the bosses at the Department of Tourism think it is proper and reasonable to use material from overseas sources in Bermuda's new advertising campaign. It is not acceptable, and this is no example for young Bermudians. It is a lie, it is cheating, it is theft, and I suppose the excuse really is: "We could do it for less money showing Florida and Hawaii in our advertising ..."

Bermuda's advertising campaign is reduced to a palimpsest, and a shabby and pale one at that! If the Tourism folks in the UK tried to lure visitors to see "Historic Places" and showed a photograph of the Louvre in Paris, that would be, by the logic of Bermuda's Tourism bosses, in keeping with the idea of old places, and historic stuff ... Rubbish! Somebody should be saying: "Resign! Resign!"

Where is the UBP? Look out, UBP, the Government might try to look more honest by wanting to include the Opposition at the Tourism Board table. I'm not happy with the UBP walking out of the House of Assembly from time to time. Somebody needs to be up there watching the Government's every action. I did not vote for Drama Queens when I made an "X" against the UBP candidates' names in my district. And somebody needs to follow the champagne corks and see if the Treasury has been looted.

Let's be honest in our advertising, even if we have to cut back on the parties to pay for it. Let's be good examples to not only our young people, but to the world that believes (according to Bermuda Tourism) that a lie is just the way of doing business.

ROSS ELDRIDGE

Devonshire

Happy Christmas

February 24, 2003

Dear Sir,

In October last year your columnist Hester put down her martini glass and clicked her finger nails over the keyboard complaining of the early plethora of Christmas ads being published in her employer's newspaper.

Apart from initiating a new and dubious policy of discouraging advertising opportunities, it also called into question the appropriate time to begin a Christmas advertising campaign. I note in Saturday's and today's Royal Gazette Lifestyle Section a Christmas Mother Goose and Grimm comic (Ironic choice of names?).

Is this Hester's sign of approval for Bermuda's retailers to start their Xmas 2003 advertising campaign? Enquiringly yours,

RETAILING ON THE 61ST

DAY OF CHRISTMAS

City of Hamilton

Editor's Note: The Royal Gazette welcomes Christmas advertising all year round, even if Hester does not! On a more serious note, some of The Royal Gazette's comics do run behind the schedule set by the syndicates that supply them. This is a long-standing policy that was put in place to avoid the risk of mail being delayed or lost on its way to Bermuda from the US. That risk is greatly reduced with the advent of the Internet and we are looking at ways of bringing all of the time-sensitive comics up to date.

It's time to grow up

February 26, 2003

Dear Sir,

Though I agree with the sentiments and views of "Concerned Mother". I would like to point out to the public at large that by law a 19-year-old is not a child. You can vote, you can be charged as an adult, you get drafted into the Regiment, you can legally buy a drink at 18. Telling an adult to be home by 12.30 is not going to happen.

I think it's time that Bermuda in general wakes up and realises that calling 18 and 19-year-olds 'youths' is misrepresentative. Yes, there are young adults out there who need help and guidance, but seriously - the problems that are there at 18 and 19 started much earlier in life. You have to build a strong foundation before you can reach the sky.

COLI

Southampton