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Just what were they thinking??????????
Here is a story I read this AM titled "The World's Most Offensive Travel Ads" The World's Most Offensive Travel Ads - FoxNews.com
To think companies paid mega-bucks for these is surprising. They need to get out of their offices more! lol
Here is just a sample:
http://o.aolcdn.com/os/travel/Offens...t-598lvg022611
Shy ~
I think the Asia Air ad is funny and clever
Hysterical!! I'm looking at going on the next trip to BKK based on that alone!!Quote:
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Cute! But I guess some would think it's offensive.
Guess I see it differently. This is why the article says it flunks:
"Dirty phonetics! Air Asia, a counter-culture low-cost carrier run by a protege of Virgin's Richard Branson, put out this one. Say it aloud to get the joke, but not in front of kids. Thailand's Phuket is one of the most popular beach destinations in Southeast Asia. The potty-mouthed potential to offend is pretty obvious here. But it also insults the reader, because it lampoons a popular and vital resort destination by reducing the Thai language to something that might make an English speaker titter. Would Bolivia advertise Lake Titicaca this way? Besides, Air Asia's pronunciation gag isn't even accurate: As one English-speaking resident noted, there's no F sound in Thai. Phuket is actually pronounced with hard P. If you're really being accurate, it sounds more like "Bukit." So Air Asia's ad also assumes Westerners are idiots who can't pronounce foreign words. Offense all around."
Shy ~
I find offensive travelers all over the world. I have found some Thais to be nasty about farangs. Ugly tourists are everywhere, from beer guzzling ones wearing singlets in public to multi-pocket vested ones who step into the field of your camera shot. Why would they limit to Westerners to be lacking in pronuniciation skills, tho?
Some cultures can't pronounce TH, or V=B in some languages, P=B in native Palau and so on...That fascinated me.
J is not really in spanish - pronounced like an H so whenever we travel my husband Jeff is always called Heff
I am guessing that only Westerners would find this offensive - we in the US tend to be such prudes compared to the rest of the world - I work in a University setting with lots of European faculty and we always talk about how prudish the US is especailly when it comes to anything sexually related. We let our children play the most violent of video games but heaven forbid they see a naked breast ;-)
I like the Air Asia ad, as well. Readers have to remember that we have a different idea about political correctness than we did years ago, when many of these ads were published. I'm curious to know when the Bermuda ad was circulated. I couldn't imagine an ad like that being in publication today.
