|
-----
Original Message -----
From: Hello Bali - Editor
To: Sri Sudewi
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 7:06 PM
Subject: Fw: Danger
in Paradise
Dear
Made,
I
thought I should let you see this letter from a rather angry real
estate agent - the same one that runs the ads you have commented
on. I personally think that it is the controversy that makes the
column stand out from the rest of the magazine's contents but,
from a business point of view, Angus does have a good point.
All
the best,
Trixy
-----
Original Message -----
From: Angus MacLachlan
Cc: d-gallmann@exotic-properties.com
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 9:49 AM
Subject: Danger in Paradise
(STRANGER'S COMMENTS
IN RED)
Hi
Andrew
I
don't know what sort of editorial control you have at Hello Bali,
but it is commercial suicide for a publisher to let contributors
criticise the magazine they write for by slagging off the advertisers who support that magazine.
To remind you here are some of Made Wijaya's
words (in blue) in the May 2005 issue:
I think the Balinese are finally fed up with our boorish ways
and our attempts to restyle their precious land as an Asian Ibiza. (this is an attack on practically
everyone who advertises with HB as well as Ibiza).
I believe it was an ad. campaign by a luxury realty company which finally tipped the scales from benign
acquiescence to militancy.
In the ads. an expat sits in the
middle of an empty white room. The caption says: I thought I
was renting a fully furnished villa
..but I ended up with an empty
house. (thank goodness
we didn't have a Balinese, instead of the expat, sitting
in the room..that
would have been a double insult!)
Another one says: I thought I had
a 30 year lease on a piece of land
..until I discovered a road
runs through it.
Message: the cagey Balinese have done
it again. (I'm
completely lost now)
Go rent something in your own country
then, a Balinese friend of mine reacted when shown these ads.
I am the
first to be respectful and appreciative of the Balinese, but how
can MW assume that everytime anyone
says anything on this Island it
is specifically targeted at the Balinese, as a race? We are very
careful in these ads to talk about 'agents' not 'Balinese'; our
target is unscruplous agents, most of whom are western managed by
the way. How he turns "Too often property agents don't tell
you the full story" (taken from our ad featured in May edition) into
a humilation of the Balinese I don't
understand. In fact we don't even mention the word 'Bali'
in the body copy at all.
Situations
we talk about in our ads happen all over the world, we run the
same ads in Phuket....Bali isn't trapped in a time warp as MW believes;
all the Balinese I meet are glowingly proud of the fact that their Island
has gained a reputation as one of the most sophisticated destinations
in the world. I think that MW is insulting the people of Bali
as he talks about them as a bunch of backward peasants who need
his protection...its pathetic. Its not just me who feels this
way about MW, most of the 5 star General Managers think that he
is a total 'has-been', how on earth can tourists reading
HB be remotely interested in what he has to say? Seriously, this
is not good for your magazine...in my day in the hotel biz HB
was in every 5 star bedroom in Bali....you
hardly ever see it now; could MW be a reason?
It doesn't
take a genius to work out which 'luxury realty company' he is
refering to in his article, particularly as one of the ads
he was referring to was featured on page 5 of the same edition,
so its clear that his words will have a damaging impact on our
brand. We therefore need him and HB to retract them.
We
require a printed apology, on the 'Stranger in Paradise' page in the June 2005
edition. This apology should say something to the effect: "Further
to comments I made in last months Stranger in Paradise when I referred to the
advertisements of a luxury real estate company I would like to
apologise for any offence caused to Exotiq
Real Estate, their staff, vendors and customers (most
of whom are Balinese). It was wrong to suggest that their advertising
was insulting to the Balinese people"
If MW cannot
bring himself to apologise then we expect the Editor to publish
the same apology, on the same Stranger in Paradise
page.
I also respectably
suggest that you undertake some sort of editorial control to ensure
that your contributors don't damage the magazine in the way that
MW does. I notice that you are now the Official magazine of the
Bali Tourism Board, congratulations, but its
not a great reflection on Bali
tourism if you promote the narrow minded, backward and childish
views of individuals such as MW.
Please let
me know what you are going to do about this.
Many thanks
Angus MacLachlan
|
