Colombia’s New Tourism Campaign: The Only Risk Is Wanting To…
29 September 2009, 10:05 AM. By Alejandro Paz
Perhaps attempting to take market share from narco-embroiled Mexico, Colombia is launching a propaganda campaign on the tourists of the world. The brilliant minds at the Colombian Official Tourism Board have devised a slogan to set our minds at ease upon visiting: The only risk is wanting to stay. Not cocaine addiction, not cocaine dealers, not cocaine whores, not even cocaine kidnappers, THE ONLY RISK IS WANTING TO STAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE IN THIS AWESOME COUNTRY. Check the pitch:
There’s a longer one and full details here, but you get the gist. Been everywhere else in the world? Well then, hey, check out Colombia. It’s colorful, exotic and sponsored by FOX and The National Geographic Channel. Oh right, The National Geographic Channel. They know damn well that Colombia has one and only risk: WANTING TO STAY. We saw this next video a while back and it conveyed a similar point. Or did it? Let’s check National Geographic’s Colombia Death Trap:
Goddamn, people will JACK you in Colombia huh, National Geo? Orrrrrrrr, not anymore. Like totally not gonna happen and probably never did. Right? Here’s the thing, we love Colombia and its brilliantly prolific harvesting of medicinal plants into eightballs and bricks of hash. Our biggest fear wouldn’t be the drugs or the jackers tho. It’d be trying to keep ourselves from picking up and taking home one of those hot ass mail order brides:
What do you think? The one on the right, right? Are you sold? But seriously, have you been enough places to give Colombia a try?
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Yo soy Colombiano and I’ve been once in 1995. Granted it’s probably completely different now but I still had a blast. I went for a month and although my parents warned me “no hablas ingles” I still had a blast. If you think about it, any city, state, country is dangerous…you just have to adapt to your surroundings. And that NatGeo clip…well let’s just say he should have stayed on the main road, not the mountains.
To be or not to be? or To go or not to go to Colombia? Is that the question well I guess my answer is HELL NOOOOOO!!!!!! Evertime I see this commercial I laugh at the lizard brain that developed this tacky and unconventional TV commercial. Watching this commercial reminds me of my experience when car shopping, going to a car-dealerships and listening to these the most ‘tacky’ and ‘corny’ sales pitch. You got the idea right? It’s pretty damm lame and cheese.
mainly cuz i found a hella cheap flight, i went to colombia (bogota, san gil, parque nacional tayrona, cartagena) for 2 weeks this summer and had a blast. most of the tourists i met @ hostels were european, but there was also the occasional venezuelan or colombian tourist. i never felt like i was in danger (not to say that i was oblivious to the possiblity of danger), but then again, i made it a point to only speak in spanish and introduce myself as a tourist from mexico. colombia is definitely a country on my ‘return to’ list.