Tourism's Biggest Lies: Weasel Words At Play

[Sir Burr]

Of course, all this double-speak was learnt from estate-agents who have been well versed in it for decades.

[fiddlehead]

Isn't marketing grand?

So much BS in the world.

I always get a kick out of the fact that "whitening cream" is the biggest seller in the cosmetic shops.

My wife's sister buys the stuff all the time.

I told her to put some on one arm everyday and not on the other, to prove that it is not all they claim.

She answered: "What do you know? You don't even watch TV!"

[DrDave]

How about hotel listings? For those that know a few of the hotels that are at best dives and at worst roach motels, consider some descriptions. (BTW it seems a common habit throughout the world)....

I was thinking along the same lines. How about Hotel/Guesthouse names? Singly, or in combination, the words Beach, Sea, Bay, View, Garden, etc in the name has become suspect in the last few years. I always laugh at the names of these places when riding down SongRoiPee or Nanai Road, and wonder how many unsuspecting tourists get reeled in by these names when making their bookings. You can pretty much assume that a place with the word "Beach" in the name is NOT on or anywhere near the beach, nor does a place with the words "Bay" or "Sea" and "View" have any chance of having anything near a clear line of sight to the ocean. Same goes for "Garden", "Palm", etc - not a patch of green as far as the eye can see.

[huggybear]

"How nice to learn what I was thinking. And to think, I thought I was thinking for myself when all I really needed to do was to be told what I was thinking."

Comments are about your postings.

[alanmorison]

"How nice to learn what I was thinking. And to think, I thought I was thinking for myself when all I really needed to do was to be told what I was thinking."

Comments are about your postings.

Let me quote you back your own words: ''Just unbelievable Mr. Morrison, you are speaking out of both sides of your mouth. You should be a U.S. politician.''

Please tell me: How is that a comment about my postings?

[alanmorison]

Well whatever brings in more traffic to your site. That is the point correct, and that is why in all your posts you end with " more info can be found at phuketwan". What's the license to spam the forum............. uh I mean sponsor the forum run?

Yes, my aim is to inform Thai Visa readers and attract traffic to Phuketwan. We breaks news stories that are usually of interest to most people who visit TV's Phuket forum. It was probably considered by the people who run TV to be a win-win: Thai Visa gets my money and forum users get some news from a source that isn't government-sponsored or obsessed with crime.

I use my real name. That was my choice. There is no hiding behind aliases.

Whether the arrangement is worth continuing is, I guess, eventually going to be up to users.

[thaigerd]

Isn't marketing grand?

So much BS in the world.

I always get a kick out of the fact that "whitening cream" is the biggest seller in the cosmetic shops.

My wife's sister buys the stuff all the time.

I told her to put some on one arm everyday and not on the other, to prove that it is not all they claim.

She answered: "What do you know? You don't even watch TV!"

"What do you know? You don't even watch TV!"

....I like this one, thanks.

Gerd

[whatsoever]

'Pattaya Clean City'

[thaigerd]

"WE LOVE PHUKET!" stickers.........

Gerd

Edited August 5, 2008 by thaigerd

[neek]

The travel industry has spawned new phrases and words that are as confusing as 'friendly fire' is to warfare or 'leader' is to politics. We'd like to expose a couple of popular lies in tourism.

I travelled to Asia for the first time, arriving in Delhi as a know-nothing 23 year old, and my friends and I declared proudly to the taxi driver that we found outside the airport that we'd never been to India before. That was our first mistake. We were rapidly shuttled to his friend's hotel, where, and this is where I get more relevant to the original topic,

"guest is god"

It was the hotel where, no less, the guest is god. I thought that a bit steep coming from such a supposedly religious country. It wasn't until a long time later (when we'd been through India, Nepal, Tibet, and home with some horrible illness picked up from a border post cream cake) that I realised how cynical one should be in life. As we set up our motion-sensitive room intrusion alarm, partly for a laugh but more because Leigh had brought it with him, the hotel staff asked us nastily "do you think you're being clever?" In retrospect, they might have wanted to make the room up and didn't appreciate such alarms, but the whole attitude of the staff, and everyone we met (in our small controlled view of the country, due to the people we allowed ourselves to be duped by) was extremely negative in the long run.

Guest was not, in any way, god. It'll take a lot to make me want to re-visit India, and I hope I'll never take such tourist-deluding fantasies at face value again.

Hope this raised a smile

[flamingtodd]

This is for Alanmorrison.

The tourism... (I am sober now) ...industry here in Phuket is not made up of one company. It is made up of hundreds. And some only deal with selling. This business has grown as we can all notice, but with its growth come it's flaws.

One flaw being, that the people writing the slogans, are probably a marketing company in S'Pore that have never been to Thailand. They have templates they can use for the fluffy slogans now. It is no longer an art. There is software where you put in a sentence, and a fluffy, highly attractive sentence comes back. It is a business.

The business is to sell to people who would not normally be a.) paying much attention and b.) not do very much investigating of their own. Say, the Average Joe America. This has to be misleading, or Joe would never come to a "filthy, unkept, un-life-guarded, topless geriatric beach where people hassle you for fake tattoos, fried sand crabs, tiny dinosaur eggs, or a frog that makes an annoying sound when you rake this knob across its back.

Mr. Morrison, this brings me to your post. I find it odd that you would find this to be something that would yield a posting.

If you ever find the chance, I would need you to see or have seen the movie "The Right Stuff" about the Space Project in the USA. During the movie, there is a sound that the director relates to the journalists' presence. Once you hear it, you will remember it.

Having said that, you are in a business that lies as well. No matter how you word it, your business has bigger lies.

Bringing breaking news to people needs a certian B.S. or as some would call it, FLARE. It needs a kick, and a drawn out line in order to control and manipulate. The news should be reserved for the people who witness it. Not for a Sat. truck, and a mobile camera crew to blurt out to all the world.

Biggest Lies? I find it very brave, yet reckless of you to enter into such accusations.

I am with Huggybear. You have 2 sides here.

todd

Edited August 8, 2008 by flamingtodd

[alanmorison]

Flamingtodd, Please go back and read the original post, or better still, the complete version on phuketwan.com. My main aim as a journalist is to get to the truth. Sometimes I fail. I am not responsible for those in the media industry who don't share my aim.

It wouldn't be such a bad thing if individuals within the tourism industry, wherever they happen to be be in the world, also pursued the truth more assiduously. That's the point I was making. . . .

Some of us are not perfect, but we try. Some of us are not complete cynics, just forever sceptical and curious about life. You're free to have any opinion you like. That's something I support wholeheartedly, even if we disagree.

I take great delight that most people have taken the original post the way it was intended and responded accordingly.

The word is flair, not flare.

[huggybear]

"How nice to learn what I was thinking. And to think, I thought I was thinking for myself when all I really needed to do was to be told what I was thinking."

Comments are about your postings.

Let me quote you back your own words: ''Just unbelievable Mr. Morrison, you are speaking out of both sides of your mouth. You should be a U.S. politician.''

Please tell me: How is that a comment about my postings?

Because your original post bashed Thailand, your "eco" comment specifically mentioned elephant rides and Patong, and then you went on in another post to say you did not mean for the thread to deteriorate into Thailand bashing when your original post did just that.

Seems to me you are applying Orwell's "doublespeak". But enough of this topic....

[Samuian]

Alright folks another Thailand bash-up for the (boring) weekend...

Besides that this marketing BS isn't simply restricted to this country only, but a worldwide phenomena, and certainly not to just one product..

let's see, what u think CAN be DONE, what do you think or is this a way too constructive thought?

Edited August 9, 2008 by Samuian