NEW DELHI: The West Bengal government’s state tourism ad was trolled by the netizens after it failed to include anything that represents Bengal apart from the Howrah bridge.The ad was released on Friday by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari during a public event. “Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Suvendu Adhikari attends the grand unveiling of West Bengal Tourism’s new brand identity, organized by the Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal,” the BJP state unit said posting video of the event.Though the ad begins with Howrah bridge, it progresses into showing Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids and several other world tourist attractions.TMC MP Derek O’Brien reacted to it calling it “Tacky. Trashy. Thooo.”“Where is West Bengal in this?What kind of tourism logo reveal is this?? It is more like promoting international tourism rather than promoting Bengal! Everywhere but Bengal. Ridiculous,” said a social media user Barnali Bairagi.Another user Joy said: “Let’s start with the bare minimum – The Background Music. With plethora of instruments available and tools to create OG music, they come with this trash that can put anyone to sleep (Play it on loop if u can’t sleep). The visuals and the shoddy video. It shows Howrah Bridge and moves on to deserts, pyramids, places that are not in West Bengal. Ya, the brilliant idea would have been to convey the experience of all the best things in the world u will find in West Bengal or something like that.““All they had to do is just study the communication and visual story telling of Kerala Tourism. Or even Odisha Tourism. Rajasthan Tourism also at one point of time had done great communications. The tagline: Where India feels different is so generic, it can be placed anywhere. It can even be the Tagline of an amusement park. Or a residential project. It doesn’t evoke any emotion. Compare it with Kerala tourism’s – God’s own Country.
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Or Rajasthan’s – Padharo Mhare Desh. Which is such a welcoming and warm tagline,” the user added.Another user requested the CM to “ask the tourism department to create a fresh, professionally conceived, Bengal-centric campaign showcasing our mountains, forests, rivers, Sundarbans, coastline, heritage, literature, music, cuisine, festivals and extraordinary cultural diversity.”“There was a time when Bengal Tourism meant Darjeeling, the Toy Train, Sundarbans, Howrah Bridge, trams, Jhau dance, heritage, culture and the unmistakable soul of Bengal. The “Sweetest Part of India” campaign showcased Bengal as Bengal,” Diptangshu Chaudhury said.“Bengal doesn’t need borrowed landmarks to attract the world. It needs the imagination and competence to showcase what it already has. From Darjeeling to the Sundarbans, from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal—Bengal itself is the advertisement. Please don’t make Bengal invisible while trying to sell it,” the person added.
