"Roadkill Bingo" Lured Brits to Kentucky?

[Grzrd]

A Kentucky tourism official has resigned because of his involvement with a British marketing firm that touted "Roadkill Bingo" as one of Kentucky's top tourist attractions:

Kentucky Tourism Commissioner Mike Cooper resigned Wednesday following days of controversy over a $179,900-a-year contract he oversaw with a British marketing firm that touted "Roadkill Bingo" as one of the state's tourist attractions ....
The newspaper also noted that a Web site Gosh P.R. used to promote Kentucky tourist attractions to the British contained factual errors and offensive stereotypes about Kentucky.
Officials at the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet said they were offended by some of the Web site's content, including a snarky article about Roadside Bingo, a car game in which motorists count the dead animals along Kentucky highways ....
The Roadkill Bingo article wasn't added to the site until late 2011, Lawson said Wednesday. Cabinet officials are reviewing who in Frankfort, if anyone, was responsible for monitoring that content, which was considered particularly inflammatory, he said.
The article said, in part: "For the jackpot, however, it has to be a skunk; 10 points. Not because they are rare – they are not – but because when you drive slowly over a freshly killed one, it absolutely stinks. If you have the windows open or the sunroof up, award double points because the smell is overpowering. With the windows down you are at one with nature for some time: the smell – and it's as bad as the cartoons make out – stays in your car for up to five miles ....
"The fact that the state of Kentucky has spent close to $700,000 with a company that wants to bill us as the Roadkill Grill is just a ridiculous example of how we waste taxpayer dollars in Frankfort," Robertson said.
Drusilla Bryan, managing director of Gosh P.R., offered Kentuckians an apology.
"We love the state of Kentucky," Bryan wrote via email Wednesday. "We fully appreciate that this article may have caused offense, for which we apologize and are very sorry. It was never our intention to create upset. Our focus was always on promoting Kentucky to the UK market."

Who should be more insulted: Kentuckians or the target market?

[agentsteel53]

the target market.  at least Kentuckians aren't getting run over!

[Grzrd]

So THAT's why the tour packages only had one-way airfares! 

[J N Winkler]

It has to be edgy not just to pull in the Tate Britain crowd, but also to cut through that old image of planters sipping mint julep while talking in treacly rhotic accents.  An ad pitch that might work would be to play up Kentucky as a land for horse lovers, while at the same time implying--never quite saying it out loud--that that means people with a special interest in horses . . .

This said, it sounds like the ad company took edge a few strokes of the knife sharpener too far.

[Brandon]

^^ Hell, if they want to be edgy, they could do an Illinois one that focuses on having two former governors serving time in jail.

[hbelkins]

Typical political appointee for the governor we have now. Guy was a campaign event organizer for Beshear and got rewarded with a six-figure political appointment job.