Does this city’s sexy ad campaign cross a line?
Tourism chiefs in Lithuania’s capital have been criticised for a sexy advertising campaign launched today, just before the Pope makes a visit to Vilnius next month.
Posters, which will start to appear in London and Berlin today, feature a woman lying on a bed sheet printed with a map of Europe, with her hand gripping Lithuania. The text above her reads: "Vilnius, the G-spot of Europe. Nobody knows where it is, but when you find it, it’s amazing."
Catholic priests in Lithuania are concerned that the ad uses women’s sexuality for advertising, and they say it gives the wrong impression of Vilnius, a mainly Catholic city.
The government of Lithuania has asked the city’s tourism chiefs to postpone the launch of the campaign until after the papal visit in September.
The campaign has been criticised by the Catholic Church and comes as Pope Francis prepares to visit the country next month.
His tour of Baltic countries is supposed to start in Lithuania, where Catholics are the religious majority.
Lithuanian priests expressed concerns that the ad used ‘women’s sexuality for advertising’ and gave ‘wrong ideas’ about Vilnius, a city with a population of 540,000.
The government had earlier originally asked Vilnius officials to postpone the ad’s launch until after the papal visit, but Inga Romanovskiene, the manager of the Go Vilnius tourism agency, said the aim of the campaign is to attract new visitors to the historic city.
‘When it comes to attracting the modern tourist we’re dealing with a very high level of competition with other European cities and countries investing heavily in destination marketing.
‘The young creatives who came up with ‘Vilnius; the G-spot of Europe’ presented an extremely engaging idea to drive interest in the city.
The campaign concept was created by Lithuanian advertising students. One of the creators, Jurgis Ramanauskas, said: "Few people know where Vilnius really is, but when they arrive they fall in love with the city.
"This insight came from our conversations with international visitors, and we formulated the idea that Vilnius is synonymous with the G-spot theory – nobody knows where it is, but, when it is discovered, everyone is very pleased!"
The G-spot campaign that’s getting people hot and bothered
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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