Please note those names: Colette Avital and Zahava Gal-On. Remember them well
when you hear that one of three children in Israel live in poverty. If you ever
have a chance to email or meet Avital or Gal-On ask them one simple question:
what professional experience do you have in international marketing?
In fact, you can ask them four more questions. "Do ever wear a swimsuit?" "Do
you wear perfume?" "If you do not care to have attractive smiles seducing
tourists to Israel, what would you suggest - 5,000 year old walls that one can
also find in China, Rome and Greece?"
Ask them. "Will you support the children who are living in poverty in Israel.
Their parents who work at hotels and restaurants, drive taxis, work in
factories and sell food at local stores?
Lastly, "do you know what pornography is?"
Webster's dictionary defines pornography as "the depiction of erotic behavior
(as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement."
When one views beautiful and attractive men and women wearing swimsuits on a
beach in Israel or on any other beach in the world, would they describe that as
"erotic"?
No, that is not erotic!
Perhaps showing nipples and pubic hair might be considered erotic. Perhaps a
picture of an attractive person masturbating or a couple making love might be
considered "erotic" - but attractive people wearing swimsuits and smiling?
Give us a break!
One of two things are going on here. Either Avital or Gal-On have not had sex
in over a decade and therefore seeing people in a bathing suit arouses them or
they are trying to seduce Israel's religious vote. Could be both for all we
know!
The idea of showcasing scantily clad Israeli girls in a US "beer and babes"
magazine - which made headlines here just days after the Hooters restaurant
chain announced it was opening its first Israel branch on the Tel Aviv
beachfront - previously came under immediate fire from the country's religious
right, which bombarded Israel news websites with allegations that the
government was degrading the Jewish state and promoting sex tourism.
"The pictures aren't anything you wouldn't see at a pool or a beach. Israel is
always mentioned in the context of wars and violence. We want to show there is
a normal life," Israel Ambassador Arye Mekel said.
The present Israel tourism marketing, advertising and PR campaign being waged
by the Israel Ministry of Tourism and the Israel Ministry for Foreign Affairs
deserves compliments for being modern, creative and professional. Professional
being that some of the most powerful and creative ad agencies in Israel and the
US have worked on this campaign for close to a year. Utilizing tons of market
research and dozens of scientific focus groups, the Israel Ministry of Tourism
was made aware of what works and what does not.
Eight months ago, Israel consular officials, Israel advertising associations
and both Israel and New York advertising ad and PR organizations came up with a
novel idea for changing Israel's war-torn, terrorism hit state's public image.
Targeting American guys with disposable income to visit Israel.
"We have to find the right hook," consulate spokesman David Saranga told
Newsweek. "And what's relevant to men under 35? Good-looking women!"
(Ah David, please be aware that good-looking women are also relevant to men
over 35.)
"We found that Israel's image among men aged 18-38 is lacking," explained David
Saranga, Israel consul for media and public affairs at the consulate, "so we
thought we'd approach them with an image they'd find appealing."
"When you see beautiful women, good-looking people, on the beaches of Tel Aviv,
you understand that Israel has to deal with the conflict, it's true, and there
are religious elements in its society, but there are also other things,"
Saranga told the UK's Globe and Mail. "I want people to know that Israel is
much more than a conflict, that people in Israel have normal lives."
The beautiful models in Israel, Saranga said, were a "Trojan horse" to present
Israel as a modern country with nice beaches and pretty women. "Many Americans
don't even know we have beaches," he said.
The unconventional public-relations offensive was the brainchild of David
Saranga. He came up with the idea while staring at poll numbers that showed his
country was not particularly well regarded in the United States, especially
among those aged 18 to 35. The Jewish state was perceived as too religious and
too militaristic for the tastes of most.
But there was a silver lining hidden in the survey data. When asked how they
perceived Israelis as a people, the popular adjectives were "rough" and
"stubborn," but also good-looking.
Hoping to capitalize on the latter, Israel's Foreign Ministry, with the help of
two of the myriad US pro-Israel lobby groups, decided to speak to US men in a
language they'd understand. Saranga began a long campaign to persuade Maxim to
showcase Israel's other assets to its 2.5 million readers.
Israel advertising and public relations professionals figured that Maxim
readers wanted to live the Leo DiCaprio fantasy of finding a girlfriend just
like Leo's Israeli babe Bar Rafaeli. So the Israel consulate in New York
offered to fly over the lad mag's photographer to shoot some exquisite babes
who, at some point, had been in uniform - and who were willing to get out of
uniform for Maxim.
Maxim magazine, which promises its readers "girls, sex, sports" and usually
avoids politics and initially balked until provided with photos of 12 of
Israel's top models.
Maxim, the Israel Consulate and the pro-Israel communications organization
ISRAEL21c and the American-Israel Friendship League celebrated their
collaboration at the Marquee in New York with a show entitled: "Women of the
Israel Defense Forces". But female Knesset members are incensed even by the
party invitation, which features the consulate crest above a picture of
bikini-clad Gal Gadot, a former Miss Israel.
"Israel's image has been tainted by sex scandals involving high-ranking
officials as it is," Avital told ynetnews.com. "I wonder if the best way to
encourage tourism is by advertising sex." "It's a shame that the Israel
consulate has not understood that countries of the Western world cannot market
themselves through the use of half naked women," added Gal-On.
Well perhaps Avital and Gal-On are not aware of Madison Ave's two most basic
and proven tenets of what motivates consumer behavior. Sex and the fear of
failure. When we say sex we are not talking sexual intercourse, we are talking
attractive men and or women whose smiles are used to sell everything from soap
to cars. And fear of failure can be seen whenever you hear or view an ad state:
trust this product. For if you use another product you can die in a car crash,
get food poisoning because what you bought may not be fresh and your watch
could stop, making you miss an important business meeting.
Toothpaste uses both factors. Have a sexy smile and you will attract all. If
you don't use our toothpaste whitening formula you will fail to attract anyone.
From a feminist perspective, there can be nothing better having women painted
as beautiful and competent. Most of the time the press describes us as either
competent like Condi Rice or Martha Stewart or sexy like Jessica Simpson and
Pamela Anderson. Rarely are we described as both.. ..Most Jewish men tell me
that they want to marry a Jewish girl but they do not know where to find or
look for a Jewish girl. After the Maxim pictorial, they will at least know
where to look.
Along with the bikini shoot, which is expected to grace the pages of one of its
summer issues, Maxim will run an article highlighting tourism in Israel.
Despite a warm climate and some of the world's most important religious sites,
the Israel tourist industry has suffered in recent years as Palestinian terror
attacks continue to scare off most travelers. Last summer's war against
Lebanon's Hezbollah terror group, which saw Katusha rockets slam the north of
Israel for 34 days, was another blow.
"The only image of Israel that young men have in their minds from the last five
years, since they were 11 or 12 years old, is of conflict, of the intifada, of
buses blowing up. We want to show them that Israel is not a one-dimensional
place of just wars and politics and conflicts," said David Brinn, editorial
director of Israel 21c, an organization that lobbies journalists, usually at
more austere publications than Maxim, to write non-conflict stories about the
country.
Mr. Brinn said that his organization, along with the American-Israel Friendship
League and the Israeli Foreign Ministry, would subsidize "all Maxim's expenses"
while the magazine was in Israel, including flights, hotel rooms, a bus and a
tour guide.
A model who participated in the Maxim shoot saw stripping down to her swimsuit
as an act of Zionism.
"The fact that I can represent this country makes me very proud," said Tali
Handel, a 25-year-old former air force sergeant who only took up modeling a few
months ago.
Though she said she'd never heard of Maxim before, she expected the article
would be "serious" and encourage young Jewish males living in the United States
to consider moving to Israel.
"I don't see anything negative about it. Nothing else brings people here, not
Jerusalem, not the beautiful nature. People are not interested. So, I think
it's okay to use something else to bring them."
Actually, the Israel tourism campaign using beautiful sandy beaches, bathing
suit sex and smiles as an effective marketing ploy began many months ago with
videos created by Tel Aviv Internet viral marketing firm Keta Keta - creative
and funny videos which have been viewed by several thousands worldwide on
YouTube.com.
Avital has asked Israel Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik for an urgent session to
discuss the advertising and PR campaign. Knesset member Zahava Gal-On agreed,
"It's unfortunate that the Israel consulate chose to emphasize Israel's
relevance with a portrait of a half-naked woman, instead of one of women of
substance and accomplishments."
The Israel News Agency would ask the Israel public, especially those families
which are barely surviving on 1,000 USD per month for an "urgent session" with
Avital and Gal-On. These families would then ask Avital and Gal-On, who know
nothing about poverty, how they would personally assist their children
financially. One would think that Gal-On who was born in Russia would have some
idea about hunger and poverty.
"Just remember when it comes time to elect new members of Knesset, that Avital
and Gal-On did not want these monies from badly needed tourism to Israel to
feed the many hungry children of Israel."
The Israel News Agency is providing Colette Avital's and Gal-On's email
addresses zgalon@knesset.gov.il and avitalk@knesset.gov.il for these families
to ask "what is your professional experience in international marketing, what
is your relationship with Israel religious political parties and do you ever
wear a bathing suit?
Bottom line, if the marketing allure of sex did not sell, this story about
Israel, sex and marketing that you are presently reading would never had been
covered by almost every media outlet in the world to increase their own sales
and circulation. Hopefully, this professional and creative Israel advertising
campaign which illustrates the natural beauty of Israel and it's people will
increase tourism and feed the many children who will go to sleep hungry tonight
in Hadera, Afula, Dimona, Kiryat Shomona and Ashkelon.
Just remember when it comes time to elect new members of Knesset, that Avital
and Gal-On did not want these monies from badly needed tourism to Israel to
feed the many hungry children of Israel.
That these two women only thought of their own sad, political careers.
Or perhaps they were just overly jealous of the sexy Israel models!
Israel News Agency
