British PM in Fiji tourism ads – clanger or helping Fiji?
Media reports in Fiji, The UK, Australia, New Zealand and globally have commented extensively over the weekend about British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s image being used to promote holidays to Fiji in the UK, [pictured right] while UK travellers to the country are being told to be prepared for riots if they visit the country under the military dictatorship and not to talk politics.
The Times in London said, “How exactly No. 10 and the Labour Party gave approval for an image of the Prime Minister, complete with hibiscus tucked jauntily behind his left ear to emblazon advertisements for the Pacific islands is a matter of dispute,”
The Times added that the net effect of the advertisement have been two fold, with the advertisements triggering a diplomatic incident and global embarrassment for Mr Brown and politicians in Fiji, Australia and New Zealand expressing outrage.
DK Advertising, the small London agency that had been asked to find a famous face to front the promo said that they first thought of the Duke of Edinburgh and then Ken Livingstone, but it was Mr Brown who was chosen as the “face of Britain”, with Steven Kenny, the agency’s client services manager, saying he made about seven calls to press officers in Downing Street and the Labour Party and showed the artwork to Labour officials before being given permission.
No. 10 officials now are saying that there was a “misunderstanding” over the ads and that the proposed artwork was not cleared at the proper level, one official adding, “We would never normally give permission for images of the PM to be used in a commercial promotion.â€
Murray McCully, the National Party foreign affairs spokesman in New Zealand, said to NZPA, “I’m not prepared to offer Mr Brown any advice but I can tell you that both major parties in New Zealand have consistently taken the approach that there should be a strong message going to the Fiji administration.”
Australian senator Kerry Nettle said, “Gordon Brown should be pushing the Fijian military to restore democracy, not promoting beach holidays.â€
Jane West, of the Fiji Visitors Bureau, described the response to the ads as “fantastic”.
What do you think?
A Report by The Mole from The Times, NZPA and other global media
John Alwyn-Jones
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