Beaches and Gulf waters are still clean and pristine
The “Chicken Little Syndrome” that has plagued Southwest Florida for much of the three months of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill has hopefully subsided with the release of scientific data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stating Southwest Florida has less than a one percent chance of getting oil slicks.
On Thursday, July 15, more good news came that the oil leak has been capped (for now) after 85 days and 184 million gallons of released oil from the wellhead.
National media sources have caused misperceptions about our beaches through general reports that ‘the oil has hit the white sandy beaches of Florida’ when nearly 90 percent of Florida’s more than 1,260 miles of coastline remains unimpacted, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.
The fact is there has been no impact whatsoever in Southwest Florida. No oil slicks; no oil patties; no oil balls.
Local agencies have used funds provided by BP as well as county emergency funds in television ad campaigns to hopefully buoy the distress signals coming from expected summertime international guests and other nation-wide vacationers who tend to vacation in Florida but are leery due to these erroneous reports that all of Florida shorelines are ‘covered’ in oil.
According to Tamara Pigott, the executive director of the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau, the recent national advertising campaign known as “FreshTV” (where nine, 30-second television ads spots were filmed, edited and aired daily) which addressed consumer misperceptions and reassured visitors that the Gulf oil spill is not affecting our coastline and islands was a successful endeavor. The VCB plans on prolonging that effort.
“Given our success to date, we plan to extend the campaign using $500,000 that the Florida Governor’s office recently committed to us for media purchases,” said Pigott in an email letter. “These funds, which are part of the $25 million provided to the state by BP, are in addition to the $750,000 in emergency reserve funds that the Lee County Board of County Commissioners approved to support this campaign, as well as consumer research and beach conditions reporting.”
Lee VCB has been busy with this project.
“Our same-day television advertising campaign is just one component of the VCB’s Still Pristine integrated marketing program to combat misperceptions about the oil spill’s impact on our area,” said Pigott. “The overall program, which we launched the week of the spill, includes: ongoing consumer research regarding the spill’s impact on vacation planning; revised messaging and call-to-action in existing media placements; proactive national publicity outreach; solicitation and distribution of real time photos and videos of local beaches and waterways; and the mobilization of brand ambassadors, visitors and local tourism industry partners.”
So, tell your Northern friends about how clean and pristine the beaches and Gulf waters are down here. Send photos of the local shorelines and blue-green waters by way of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, texts and emails. A picture is worth a thousand words.