The 10 worst tourism adverts of all time

1. The spirit of Massachusetts

This Eighties ad features a lovely table cloth, a handsome broom, cyclists and

horse riders living in harmony, and perhaps the finest tourism jingle of all

time – good enough to be lampooned by Family Guy.

2. Saucy Riga

If this advert is anything to go by, Latvians are incapable of communicating

without a handy supply of napkins and tomato ketchup. Supposedly

commissioned to encourage holidaymakers to visit Riga, shots of the city’s

beautiful old town – the reason most visit, aside from the cheap beer – are

scandalously few and far between. Instead we see couples flirting awkwardly,

and generally making an utter mess that some poor waiter will be expected to

clean up. And the less said about that man’s haircut the better.

3. Where the bloody hell are you?

This typically Australian effort from 2007 cost AUS$180 million but was

briefly banned in Britain following complaints – earning its place on our

list. Paul

Hogan’s “fair dinkum” ad, from 1984, also received criticism.

4. Canada: don’t forget your fabric softener

This rather over-elaborate ad is supposed to convey to us the beauty of

Newfoundland, Canada. But, having watched it, the only thing we known for

sure is that it’s very windy, and everyone wears underpants.

5. Cleveland spoof

Admittedly, it’s not an official tourism ad, but with more than six million

views since it was posted on YouTube in 2009, this effort by Mike Polk Jr is

well worth including. “The Cleveland Tourism Board gave me $14m about 8

months ago to make a promotional video to bring people to Cleveland,” jokes

Polk. “As usual, I waited till the last minute and I ended up having to

shoot and edit it in about an hour yesterday afternoon. I probably should

have invested more time.”

6. Get lost Grinty

“Why an earth would anyone want to go abroad in 2012,” asked Stephen Fry in

this VisitEngland ad, part of its recent ‘Holidays at Home are Great’

campaign. “Why go all the way to Bondi when you could come here to

Bridlington?” adds Rupert Grint. Well, home much time have you got?

Telegraph Travel’s Nigel

Richardson slated the commercial in fine style, soon after its release:

“Nothing is more guaranteed to get the goat of the cussed Brit than the idea

of the Government spending our money on the modern equivalent of a public

information film that tells us where to go, what to do and how to spend our

increasingly hard-earned cash,” he said.

7. Colour me fun

“I’m red, I love… I’m yellow, I groove… I’m blue, I appreciate. There’s one

place where colours and people best come together – Miami Beach!” So begins

this rambling effort that drags on for almost 15 minutes and features a

shameless number of attractive women raising their eyebrows in front of

roaring fires and reclining onto beds.

8. “Break out those PJs”

With its ear-wincingly bad backing track and Stone Cold Steve Austin

lookalike, this ad – featuring people wandering around the city in pyjamas

(because “Philly’s more fun when you sleep over”) really missed the mark.

9. Nuts about Canada

Authorities at Banff Lake Louise Tourism sought to take advantage of the famous

photobombing squirrel, shot inside its national park, by producing this,

back in 2009. The joke wears thin very quickly.

10. Barcelona…

…known for its Gaudi architecture, tapas, beaches, pickpockets and…

fountains, apparently.

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The 10 worst tourism adverts of all time