Thursday, September 19, 2013

Suggested Ad Slogan: "Come for the Genocide; Stay for the Yummy Local Grub"

Jonathan Kay writes about the "human rights" mausoleum's creepy marketing pitch:
Apparently, nothing arouses the taste for “fresh, locally sourced food” quite like a few hours spent learning about history’s greatest genocides. Or so one might surmise from an odd press release circulated this week by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg. 
“Visitors with an appetite for human rights will also get a taste of Manitoba, in the world’s most stunning new travel destination,” enthused CMHR president and CEO Stuart Murray. “The restaurant will be a new offering for Winnipeggers and an enticement to visitors.” 
In the past, I’ve expressed some skepticism about the massively expensive, government-subsidized CMHR project: The museum’s scale makes sense only if it attracts many hundreds of thousands of visitors per year. But Winnipeg is not yet an internationally recognized destination for high-concept attractions. Moreover, it remains an open question whether even Canadian visitors will get on a plane to see exhibits that are by turns earnest (the Canadian Charter of Rights) and horribly depressing (the Rwandan genocide) 
But even if these problems can be surmounted, the tenor of this week’s press release gives a taste of the awkwardness that attends the museum’s marketing efforts...
Not on the menu at Auschwitz or during the Holodomor.

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