Time was, advertisers of one product were not allowed to use the
name of a rival product in their ads. Thus, margarine-makers had to
refer to butter as "the high-priced spread." Looking back on it,
Madison Avenue seemed a more savory, if less salty, street in those
days.
Well, folks from a much higher-priced spread, The Hamptons,
think maybe it's time for a return to the good old days. Residents
of Long Island, N.Y.'s sybaritic enclave of celebrities, stock
brokers and social-climbing summer renters stacked 12 to a shack,
are mad as Martha Stewart with a hangnail over a newspaper ad by
the Bermuda tourism commission that gently tweaks the tony New York
beach towns.
The ad reasons that a weekend in Bermuda beats a trek to the
Hamptons because, among other things, "Everyone in Bermuda is
courteous and friendly. Everyone in the Hamptons is from New York."
You get the idea.
Hamptons officials have officially protested the campaign and
demanded future ads be scrapped. Residents are fuming, taking the
whole thing very seriously. Bermuda officials seem amused by the
fuss. Wouldn't you be?