Russia uses smiling kids in tourism ad for war zone
Hey, they originated the Potemkin Village, right?
Russia’s southern region of Ingushetia is trying to overcome its reputation for bombs, murders and shootouts by paying for a glossy supplement featuring strutting dancers and smiling mothers. The eight-page, full colour supplement entitled “My Favourite Republic” appeared inside copies of the popular Moscow newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on Tuesday. … “Ingushetia, it is an amazing, beautiful region,” the supplement said on its front page. “You could talk about it endlessly.”
Or you can believe what the US State Department says about Inqushetia and the rest of the Caucasus:
Throughout the region, local criminal gangs have kidnapped foreigners, including Americans, for ransom. U.S. citizens have disappeared in Chechnya and remain missing. Close contacts with the local population do not guarantee safety. There have been several kidnappings of foreigners and Russians working for media and non-governmental organizations in the region. Due to the ongoing security concerns, U.S. Government travel to the area is very limited. American citizens residing in these areas should depart immediately as the safety of Americans and other foreigners cannot be effectively guaranteed.
I went to ComeBackAlive.com, the website for Robert Young Pelton who writes The World’s Most Dangerous Places and was very disappointed to find only very dated material on Russia and its dangerous places. Tsk, Tsk, Robert. CLARIFICATION: Actually the site does have more recent info, it’s just that when I used the search function the first page and a half or so of results were all for the site’s DangerFinder archives. Once I did a search for Chechnya -DangerFinder, I got the new stuff. Now I’m just disappointed with the site’s search function, not its actual content.
Categories: Marketing · Marketing blunders · PR Disasters · Potemkin · Russia · Tourism
Tagged: Checnya, Marketing, Potemkin, Russia, Tourism
3 responses so far ↓
Rob // April 29, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Let’s just say you shuld probably err on the side of the State Department at this stage (typing that makes me feel dirty).
RYP // April 30, 2008 at 8:45 am
Constantine, the info you refer to is the online version of the previous edition of DP (clearly marked as such). Those who track the latest go to the Black Flag Cafe. And yes you can scratch at the Polo Bastard fleas there as well.
Nice site
collateraldamage // April 30, 2008 at 9:06 am
And this guy knows whereof he writes! I just checked out Polobastards.com. Check out the section on the Caucasus: http://polosbastards.com/pb/ingushetia-chechnya-amidst-the-rubble/
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