10.31.08 Bad Cruise
Just in time for Halloween: Nightmare on Broad Street.
Carnival Cruise Lines recently launched a new ad campaign, “Fun for All, All for Fun,” positioning the brand as the most festive cruise line in the world. To prove it, last Monday, Carnival’s promotions guys rolled the “World’s Largest Beach Ball” through the streets of Dallas. A huge success, but just the prologue to the main event. This coming Sunday, Carnival plans to unveil the “World’s Largest Piñata” in Philadelphia. Standing six stories tall and measuring 50 feet from head to tail, the piñata will be smashed by a wrecking ball, to shower 800 pounds of candy down upon the delighted faces of the thousands of kids that Carnival is hoping will attend. I mean, it can’t get bigger than that!
Well, um, er, actually…After two days of rain delays, on Wednesday night Philadelphia’s Phillies defeated Tampa Bay to become World Series Champions. It’s Philly’s first major championship in 25 years. As the city erupted in joy, Mayor Nutter proudly announced the details for a victory parade. The fun begins today at noon. It will kick off at 20th and Market Streets, head past City Hall, down Broad Street, and finish at a DOUBLE stadium event at Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park. And, since it’s happening on a Friday, which also happens to be Halloween, over a million people are expected. School districts throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware are anticipating the greatest rash of truancy they’ve ever seen. Is there a Guinness record for “Most Hooky Played in One Day”?
Or perhaps, “World’s Largest Candy Hangover.” Philadelphia expects it will take all weekend to clean up the mess. Carnival has been forced to move their event (which took several months to plan) to a much less desirable location. Carnival issued a terse press release that the piñata will appear “on Sunday at South Broad Street and Washington Avenue, from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The piñata will be destroyed at approximately 1:30 p.m.” Gee, sounds like fun.
Carnival, welcome to the “World’s Largest Marketing Headache.”