It's no secret that tourism offices go into overdrive to get as many people to their designated area for the summer. Usually this leads to ad campaigns in other districts. Ocean City, Maryland, for example, runs ads here. Cape May runs ads down there.
But the battle of the billboards has taken an ugly turn for Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Atlantic City casinos. Here's a billboard that the Trump properties put up in Pennsylvania: 
And here's one of a series of billboards Connecticut casinos are putting up on the northeast corridor:
Other slogans include: "Way beyond the boredwalk" and "Escape the Jersey snore."
Well now.
The Trump billboard doesn't bother me that much. It points out the difference, which should be obvious to anyone who has visited both casinos. It points out its advantages rather than making fun of its competitor. But the Connecticut ones? That's just catty, and is it really fair to slap at the whole region when what they're really focusing on are casinos? Why not promote what you do have instead of tearing down another region? It's not a boredwalk. It's a BOARDWALK with a capital B. And the only snoring going on down the shore is if you're catching a beach cat nap to the tune of cool ocean breezes.
The billboard that got it right? 
This is a Philadelphia tourism billboard up in Wildwood. It's cheeky. It's fun. It's not going to make people pack up early and zip to Philadelphia, but it's a takeaway for when you get back home that Philly might be worth visiting. It doesn't tick off visitors who love the Jersey shore.
What do you think?
3 comments:
Last summer in Stone Harbor, I saw a plane towing a sign that said something like "get out of the sand, visit PA." I laughed really hard about that one. Do they really think someone's going to go, you know instead of enjoying myself away from it all on this pristine beach next to this great surf, I should go see some Amish people or take a tour of an old coal mine.
That Conn. one is ridiculous. How can they compare their two casinos (and not much more) with AC and all it's glory? laughable.
I have had some good fun in Atlantic City but have never been in the casinos. With that said the sand in AC is the roughest and sharpest I have ever been on. Take a scoop of AC Sand and compare it to a scoop of Wildwood Sand. There are more cigarette butts on that beach than anywhere else on the Jersey shore. I prefer a clean beach over a soggy ashtray for sun and swimming. I will be back in A.C. as it has so many things worth visiting but most of my vacation time is spent in other shore towns of Jersey.
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