I could not find the ad for the kingfisher airlines on the company website, and would be happy if someone sends me a link or posts it on the forum.
Scantily-clad girls promoting tourist destinations is not new. It seems the old controversy of the billboard that was outside the Dabolim airport has been reignited. I think it was the billboar welcoming visitors to Goa to a place where "anything goes", maybe I am not using the exact words. In the current controversy, the NGOs and individuals may be fighting the "sublimal" message in the Kingfisher Airlines ad. Whether we like it or not, Goa has attained fame (or to those who look at the other side, infamy) as a fun place. Maybe this is the hangover from the hippie days. I doubt, however, Goa is looked at as a "sin city" in the manner such as Bangkok. The paedophile image created with the arrest of Freddy Peats and the reopening of the issue with Peats's associate in the child-sex ring now brought to Goa will put the spotlight back on Goa. Kerala offers almost equivalent or better scenic delights as Goa, but its tourist image is much "cleaner" than Goa's. Once an image is created, it persists. As far as I can see, Goa's image isn't soiled. Such ads only create some frills, but visitors would be losers if they come for "sex tourism." In this not-so-subtle ads, Goa can come to be projected as a better nightspot than the rest of India, though frankly the nightlife in some metropolitcan cities, particularly Mumbai, is much more tempting to those who seek such pleasures. In new tourist places such as Dubai, which is promoted as very liberal compared to other cities in the Middle East, there is what one would call "underground tourism." The word "sex" is taboo. I can believe that call-girl rackets are existing in Goa but open soliciting as done on Dubai streets may not be taking place. That Goa had or still has a "red light" district is enough to convince the global traveller that the state is "hot". I read an article on Goa's tourism in the current issue of Goa Today, but I don't remember reading anything on sex being one of the magnets, rest being sun, sea and feni, attracting tourists, foreign and domestic, to Goa. I would hold rest of my comments till I see the Kingfisher Airlines ad. If someone could post me privately the ad, I would be thankful. Eugene Correia ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs