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They call this promotion? Thursday, September 18th, 2008

This blog deals with all aspects of Internet content, and sometimes strays into more general content issues. Here’s one that’s a bit out of left field, but I think is worth discussing. I belong to a US-based academic institute related to my postgraduate study (I won’t bore you with the details now, but maybe in another post). Anyway, a sub-group of that society (which shall remain nameless because the issue I have has nothing to do with them, but with the tourism commission which undoubtedly fed them information) is having a conference in Oklahoma City. Here is a verbatim description of the conference city sent to me in an email today:

Oklahoma City is the capital of the Great State of Oklahoma.  This city ranks 31st among United States cities in population and is easily accessible by land and air.  In 1995, Oklahoma City experienced the most destructive act of domestic terrorism in United States history when the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed by a disaffected U.S. Army veteran.  Conference delegates to Oklahoma City can now join the over 3 million people who have visited the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and Museum that was established on the site of the blast that killed 168 people and damaged more than 100 nearby buildings.  In addition, delegates can also enjoy visits to Myraid Gardens and Crystal Bridge as well as recent MAPS developments such as the new baseball park, the civic center, the fairgrounds, and the canal to the Bricktown entertainment district, in particular.

Is it just me, or does anyone else find that ’sales pitch’ for Oklahoma City decidedly creepy? Why on earth would you lead off the description of your beautiful city with a detailed description of your worst moment? Maybe if I was going to visit Dachau I would be sent similar information, but that seems to be no way to pitch Oklahoma City. By all means, it was a terrible tragedy, and, just like my recent visits to New York included a visit to Ground Zero, I would no doubt visit that museum if I visited Oklahoma City. But to base your entire promotion around the details of the bombing? I suppose the context jarred me as well - following a very brief description of this conference, it launched into this long screed on the bombing. Maybe the fact that I first read this on my Blackberry influenced my reaction, as I was sitting there scrolling through this weird description to get to the detail of the conference. Interested to hear your comments on this.