[GAY AD]
When an ad campaign appeared in the London Underground promoting South Carolina as a "So Gay" destination for gay and lesbian tourists, the spokesman for the state's tourism agency shared his unease with a colleague.
"I'm praying this little story doesn't jump the pond, especially as the later summer slow news cycle sets in," Marion Edmonds wrote in a July 3 e-mail. "Let's hope that doesn't get picked up by some SC tourist and brought back. It would be a classic case of a picture doing the damage of a thousand words."
Edmonds' prayer was not answered. The story broke in early July in the blogosphere, and then moved into mainstream news reports. A pile of e-mail printouts at the South Carolina Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department illustrates the agency's confused response to the ads -- which apparently were approved by a lone employee who may not have even looked at them -- and the media storm that followed.
Freedom of Information requests yielded a four-inch stack of e-mail and documents dating to 2004. The communications suggest an agency employee, who since has resigned, decided to spend $4,942.50 from a tourism promotion fund he controlled on the campaign designed to draw South Carolina trip bookings during London Pride, a gay event. State officials quickly reneged on the decision to spend money on the ads. Tourism industry experts said by washing its hands of the ad campaign, the state is losing out on lucrative business.
John Tanzella, executive director of the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association, last month called it "mind-boggling" that South Carolina wouldn't invest $5,000 to draw tourism from a lucrative niche market. The hundreds of e-mails show the agency's leadership figuring out how and why the ads were running in the first place and hoping the story would blow over.
When an ad campaign appeared in the London Underground promoting South Carolina as a "So Gay" destination for gay and lesbian tourists, the spokesman for the state's tourism agency shared his unease with a colleague.
"I'm praying this little story doesn't jump the pond, especially as the later summer slow news cycle sets in," Marion Edmonds wrote in a July 3 e-mail. "Let's hope that doesn't get picked up by some SC tourist and brought back. It would be a classic case of a picture doing the damage of a thousand words."
Edmonds' prayer was not answered. The story broke in early July in the blogosphere, and then moved into mainstream news reports. A pile of e-mail printouts at the South Carolina Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department illustrates the agency's confused response to the ads -- which apparently were approved by a lone employee who may not have even looked at them -- and the media storm that followed.
Freedom of Information requests yielded a four-inch stack of e-mail and documents dating to 2004. The communications suggest an agency employee, who since has resigned, decided to spend $4,942.50 from a tourism promotion fund he controlled on the campaign designed to draw South Carolina trip bookings during London Pride, a gay event. State officials quickly reneged on the decision to spend money on the ads. Tourism industry experts said by washing its hands of the ad campaign, the state is losing out on lucrative business.
John Tanzella, executive director of the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association, last month called it "mind-boggling" that South Carolina wouldn't invest $5,000 to draw tourism from a lucrative niche market. The hundreds of e-mails show the agency's leadership figuring out how and why the ads were running in the first place and hoping the story would blow over.