On my lunch break today, I was sitting in the staff lounge, and I picked up the only magazine that was on the table.
It was a travel magazine. I really should know better than to read those things, and it was talking about "Fun in the sun," which is something that just doesn't turn my crank. But I was bored, so I turned to a random page.
It was such a small detail that nobody else (read: nobody unmad) would have noticed it. But it really got to me. It wasn't what it said; all it said was:
hockey
Now, this is not a big deal. But it was where it said it. The magazine bore this word on a page dedicated to Florida.
Now, I know, lots of places have hockey, and Florida is no exception. There are tons of Floridan hockey fans, and I'm sure there's some pretty good players. But we're talking about a travel magazine here – it got me thinking....
Why the heck would you promote Florida for its hockey in a travel magazine?
Think about it. I can only think of reasons not to mention hockey at all. It's wrong on so many levels.
1: People go to Florida for the heat. They go to Florida to escape the kind of climate most amenable to hockey. Who wants to be cooped up in a chilly rink on their great, hot, sunny vacation?
2: If someone wants to see hockey on their vacation, they're not going to go to Florida. They're going to go up north, where it actually gets cold. They're going to go to Canada.
3: Nobody who wants to see hockey in Florida is going to see that add. Think about it. The only people who would really want to go to see hockey in Florida are those who actually live in Florida or a neighbouring state or country. People who live in these hot places are not going to be paying much attention to a travel magazine advertising for other, equally hot places.
Now, I'm sure the people who put the travel magazine together know how to do their jobs very well, and I'm sure they're smart people. But this was just something that makes no sense to me!
Maybe someday, when Florida freezes over, everything will make sense, but what are we supposed to do?
And how dare they try to steal important winter-time tourism from Canada?!