A Holiday of a Lifetime
A Wherever we go and whatever we do, we are surrounded by advertising. Much of the advertising around is useful — informing us of new products or the best bargains available at that moment. It is a way for producers to sell their products and without it many businesses would not be able to succeed. In fact,the advertiser James Randolph Adams once said,“Advertising is the principal reason why the businessman has come to inherit the Earth.”
B However, is there too much advertising now? In many ways, it has started to destroy its own aim in that so much of the advertising we see is misleading. It is very possible that we now tend to ignore most of what we see. Perhaps what the famous author, H.G.Wells said is now more accurate: “Advertising is legalized lying.”
C Let me give what I believe to be a perfect example of the problems of advertising. This happened to me when I was trying to find a suitable place to take my family for a holiday. I searched the travel brochures and I found what I believed to be a perfect holiday. It was advertised as“A Once in a Lifetime Holiday:”
A Once in a Lifetime Holiday
D An Island Paradise
Come and relax at this wonderful, brand-new resort at the southern tip of the exotic island of Bantu. The resort, which extends over an area of 250 acres, is nestled in a shallow bay which is cooled by refreshing sea breezes. It is an ideal place to make a study of the fascinating sea creatures which abound in the shallow waters all along this coast.
E A Holiday for All the Family
For the less adventurous or younger members of the family there is an extremely large swimming pool with a water slide and diving board, a paddling pool for the youngsters, a mini golf course and many other natural attractions.
F Beautiful Bantu Island
If you want to see more of this paradise island, the hotel will make all the arrangements for you, including deluxe, air-conditioned transport to wherever you want to go. You may wish to visit some of the following exciting attractions around the island.
Tour 1: The ancient and mysterious Lake Tali
A short drive from the resort will take you to an ancient religious site and a place of romance. Stories abound of human sacrifices and of couples throwing themselves into the lake as a desperate act of love. Spirits are regularly seen by the people living around the lake.
Tour 2: The nature reserve at Bangwe in the north of the island
Here can be found all the natural wonders of the island's wild life: exotic plants and rare animals.
Tour 3: The unbelievable underwater cavern off the west coast
Take a trip in a native boat along the coast from the resort to find this ancient cavern, said to be the home and final resting place of a powerful magician.
G A Home from Home
Of course, in a first-class hotel you would expect to find first class accommodation. That’s why you will stay in individual, handcrafted units, made from local timber. These units will create a real back-to-nature atmosphere.
H
A Holiday to Make Your Money Go Further
Quality resorts are often too expensive for the ordinary working family. However, as this is a new resort and the owners are more interested in making their guests feel welcome and happy than in taking their money, this package holiday comes at a special "give-away" price. As we KNOW you will want to explore the island on the wonderful tours described above, we include these in the price of the holiday. This means that once you arrive here, you won’t have a penny more to pay!
Don’t delay! Book now or you may miss the chance of a once in a lifetime holiday!
I I was so excited; I rushed home to show my family. We agreed it was the ideal place for us! However, the day before I was going to book the holiday, I noticed a small article in the local newspaper about the same place. The reporter had been to the holiday resort and found that the brochure, although not telling any lies, had not presented quite the true picture:
A“Never-To-Be-Repeated” Holiday —Visit the Exotic Building Site J An Island Yes, it is an island, but a paradise? This half-built “resort” is situated on a bare rock in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It is perched on the edge of a beachless bay and is constantly blasted by bitter winds that make most typhoons seem like a refreshing sea breeze. If you are a keen swimmer, make sure you take out a good insurance policy before you leave home. You would have to leap from a cliff about fifteen metres above the water, which seems to be the favourite hunting ground of a vast number of hungry sharks.
K A “Holiday” for Nobody Yes, the place does have a swimming pool (which does have a slide and a diving board) and it does have a paddling pool. What it doesn't have, unfortunately, is WATER! The island seems to suffer from permanent drought so there isn't enough water to have a shave, never mind fill a swimming pool. As for the other “attractions", there is a small piece of grass, with a couple of holes marked by flags, and I suppose a huge rock in the middle of the ocean is “natural.”
L The “Beauties of Bantu Island” THERE ARE NONE! Ignore the tours. The "air- conditioned" transport is an open-backed jeep; “Lake” Tali is a dirty pond which isn't deep enough to drown a couple of frogs; the animals are so “rare” that we couldn't find any; and as you need tobe an experienced scuba diver to see the cavern (not to mention the ever-present sharks), yes, it is “unbelievable.”
M A Home from Home A perfect description, if you happen to be a native from the wilds of Borneo! Apart from that, the information is perfectly true. As this is in no way a first class hotel, we shouldn't expect first class accommodation. The "units" are wooden huts and the "back-to-nature" atmosphere is created by having to wash in a tiny stream that (sometimes) runs through the "resort."
N A Holiday to Make Your Money Go Further Well, I suppose Bantu Island is a long way away. The further the better! In conclusion, for anybody who is still considering this "once-in-a-lifetime nightmare", I suggest you enrol in a "survival training" course immediately. You may not have noticed, but the brochure does not mention food. The reason is simple — there isn't any!
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O Clearly it was not the ideal place for us to go on holiday. If I had not seen the newspaper article I would have taken my family to a place that was not only not in the slightest enjoyable, but perhaps also very dangerous. The lesson to be learnt is clear, examine all advertisements carefully and find out as much as possible about the product from an independent source.
Things are not always what they seem to be!
