Source: Charlotte Observer, Guardian, Time, Atlanta Journal Constitution, WOLO TV
A London ad campaign meant to promote South Carolina to gay tourists has caused quite a stir on this side of the pond.
The campaign, launched by marketing agency Out Now Consulting, was intended to promote Amro Worldwide, a London-based gay tour operator, and to tout tourism to several gay-friendly U.S. destinations.
But what sells in Piccadilly doesn't necessarily float in Gaffney.
The ad has created a controversy that led to the resignation of the employee who approved it and has many in the gay and lesbian community feeling less welcome.
A state agency has refused to pay for the ad, but an LGBT group in South Carolina said today that it will cover the bill that the state is refusing to pay.
The flap over the ad is likely to cost South Carolina, Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
"We experience discrimination every day, so we certainly don't want to when we travel," said Wesley Combs of the Washington-based communication firm Witeck-Combs, which specializes in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender travel.
Combs noted that national media attention about the ad, including jokes on Conan O'Brien's late-night TV show, sends a sour message to gays and lesbians who spend an estimated $712 million a year in travel.
"We read," he said. And state government leaders "are sending a signal that gay people are not welcome in South Carolina."
The campaign, which featured posters that said "South Carolina is so gay," ran during London Gay Pride, a festival that ended earlier this month and attracted more than 800,000 people to the city. A handful of other U.S. destinations joined the campaign, including Atlanta, Boston and New Orleans.
The South Carolina poster features a generic image of a plantation, and hyped the state's antebellum architecture, golf courses and gay beaches.
In the week leading up to the British capital's gay pride parade on July 5, the agency placed 60 posters along escalators in London's Leicester Square and Covent Garden tube stations, which serve Soho, the city's gay hub.
South Carolina State Senator David Thomas, a Republican, publicly condemned the campaign after reading about it on The Palmetto Scoop, a South Carolina political blog. He also called for an audit of the tourism department's advertising budget, which in 2008 will run to approximately $10 million.
OK'd by an employee with the state's Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, the ad was meant to capture a piece of the more than $700 million gays and lesbians spend on travel every year.
After learning of the campaign, lawmakers and conservative activists protested and the South Carolina department of parks, recreation and tourism refused to pay the bill. A spokesman for governor Mark Sanford said use of public advertising money to promote a social agenda was inappropriate.
"We welcome anyone to visit our state," Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said, "but we agree with Sen. Thomas about using tax money to promote any group with a particular social or political agenda."
In an interview with TIME, the Thomas explained that the advertisement is offensive to taxpayers who are not gay, and that it mischaracterizes the travel opportunities for gay men and women visiting his state. "They'll get off the plane and say, 'Where are the gay beaches?' and no one will know what they are talking about."
Charlotte Observer reports that Thomas has softened his tone toward gay travel, saying he would "love" for gays and lesbians to visit and spend money in the state's $16 billion-a-year tourism economy. He just doesn't want ads like the one in question that promotes the state's "gay beaches."
A Columbia, SC LGBT group said yesterday it will reimburse a European travel agency the roughly $5,000 lost when a state tourism agency refused to pay for the ad.
South Carolina Pride said it will seek private donations to pay the cost of the campaign, which included posters in London subway stations proclaiming "South Carolina is so gay".
The South Carolina Pride Movement just launched the "South Carolina Will Be So Gay Campaign." This is an effort to raise the five thousand dollars necessary to pay the debt owed by the state for the ads which were pulled from distribution earlier this week, WOLO TV reports.
Ryan Wilson, president of South Carolina Pride, told McClatchy Newspapers it was important the group pay for the ads. In addition, he said, the disagreement over tourism advertising has helped raise awareness for gay issues in the state.
"We wanted to clear the air and do the right thing and pay off the debt," Wilson said. "Our hope is that our community can step in ... take the high road and do the right thing."
The London posters also advertised Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. Thus far, there has been no outcry from officials in those cities. That may reflect their knowledge that gay tourists spend some $65 billion in the U.S. annually. "It's a tremendous market to tap into," Matthew DeGuire of Travel Unlimited, a retail travel agency in Columbia, South Carolina told TIME.
Full article: SC halts campaign to promote gay travel | Charlotte Observer
'So gay' travel agency to get refund | guardian.co.uk
S. Carolina Huffs Over UK 'Gay' Ads | TIME
Fallout from 'So Gay' ad likely to cost South Carolina | Atlanta Journal Constitution
Controversy Surrounds "SC Will Be So Gay" Campaign | WOLO TV