Tsoti sweepstakes

[snugglekitty]

So, yesterday I went to see Transamerica, with most of my tribe. It's a great movie, y'all should check it out, but that's not what this post is about. Oh no.

The last time I was at that theater (Kendall) I saw a preview for a movie called Tsotsi, which I guess has won a bunch of awards. This time, they played an ad for the Tsotsi Sweepstakes.

This is a film about the trials of impoverished blacks in South Africa, right? And the sweepstakes is giving away, as its grand prize, an all-expenses paid trip to South Africa. The winner will stay in a luxury hotel and visit a game preserve.

I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my seat. It was sort of embarassing. I mean, who thought of that? Who said, "We'll have sweepstakes to promote a movie about our population majority underclass, and the winner will get to enjoy the best of what minority upper class South Africa has to offer! Yeah, that's a great idea!" I mean, did they just never think it through? Is this someone's terrible idea of a joke? Or what?

Comments

[catya.livejournal.com]

*shakes head*

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

Hang on a minute.

Tourism is a big industry in SA (and elsewhere) -- an industry that employs a heck of a lot of non-rich non "minority upper class" people. The contest (and its ads, which are obviously aimed at the kind of people who go see movies like this, eg America's intellectual elite, eg people who might have money and might be inclined to travel to non-standard destinations) will presumably have the effect of reminding those folks that SA, despite its well-publicized woes, is a beautiful, interesting place to visit. Some small but non-trivial percentage of those people actually will visit, spending money at well-staffed hotels and little shops owned by the middle class and at restaurants and at resorts and on buses and with sidewalk vendors and whatnot. Now, granted, tourism in and of itself is a lousy base for an economy, but it does create a lot of entry-level jobs and inspires local governments to invest in infrastructure when they can, both of which are good effects.