Sunday, April 29, 2007
City of Arlington tickled to death over its many eligible bachelors
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ARLINGTON — In what had to be mere seconds after Men's Health magazine's announcement that Arlington was the "#3 place in the country to meet single men", the city of Arlington fired up a marketing push, touting lists of hotels, local attractions such as Six Flags over Texas, and vacation packages designed to lure single women to the mid-cities burg.
The magazine, whose cover shots usually show shirtless guys with ripped abs, did a study revealing the best cities in which to meet single men, especially for ladies over-35. The rankings were determined by ratio of single men to single women, divorce rates, fitness levels, philanthropy, education level, and attraction.
This wax rendition of Brad Pitt is still very single and very eligible, ladies.
The Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau is now enthusiastically crowing about its vacation packages getaways (available on arlington.org) aimed at women seeking single men. In addition to Six Flags (which seems like an odd place to troll for men 35+, no?), the CVB recommends the Texas Rangers, the Planetarium at University of Texas at Arlington, Legends of the Game Baseball Museum, and Dyno-Rock Indoor Climbing Gym. It also gives a shout-out to "nearby Grand Prairie" where it says that women on-the-make can hit Lone Star Park or Louis Tussaud's Palace of Wax, "where men such as Brad Pitt and kevin Costner hang out," Arlington sez. Does the city not realize those wax figures are not real men?
Diane Brandon, VP of communications for the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau, even outs her own single-ness in a quote that says, "As a single woman myself, I can't think of a more fun way to spend a weekend, than bonding with my girlfriends, being pampered and checking out the Arlington men." Talk about taking one for the team. Diane deserves a promotion and a raise.
No. 1 on the list was San Jose, Calif., followed by Salt Lake City, Utah. No. 4 was Raleigh, S.C., and No. 5 was San Francisco. Dallas came in at No. 12, and Fort Worth was No. 19.
Posted by T.G.
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Comments
Sonya Grogg Staff
The word about Arlington even trickled down to Oprah.
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
James Scott Verified
So...why does 'Men's Health' - a magazine for men (no?) - publish an artcicle about the best place to meet single men? Are we sure we know women were the intended audience???
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
luniz Anonymous
MH is really geared more to the metrosexual crowd, rather than hetero or homo. So I'm not sure the article really helps anybody. I suppose it could mean that if you're a single guy in Arlington, you should (buy some really expensive clothes and) move to Dallas.
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Sanders Kaufman Verified
I don't like it when these kinds of paid promotions appear as true, journalistic pieces.
With it's abundance of gun-toting rednecks, sexually ambiguous commitment-phobes, and angry drunks obsessed with sports - I would recommend that women seeking men should seek them elsewhere.
On the other hand, it's a very safe-haven for drunken wife-beaters. Often, in the local news, we hear about some woman in Arlington/Grand Prairie who calls the cops on her abusive spouse but gets blown off.
This kind of for-pay "journalism" happens a lot around here. With great frequency, Fox4 News "breakes" a story about a local airline setting a new price for a couple of flights out of town.
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Mike Orren Staff
Um, if we got paid for that, the check never made it to my desk.
We NEVER run articles that are paid for. Never.
But we're also not so holier-than-thou that we think that some people don't enjoy this kind of stuff. In fact, we're keeping a tally of these things for a "meaningless statistics" section in the future. And, we tend to have a bit of a mocking tone on these sorts of things that the "sponsor" certainly wouldn't like.
Accuse us of pay-for-play, and you're on my fighting side. (Especially if we don't get the benefit of the pay...)
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Sanders Kaufman Verified
In my defense - this isn't really your story. You just reported what Mens Health magazine reported.
This is what makes these sponsored "reports" so devilish... and effective. It's bad enough when one agency does this - but it's real bad when other agencies pick it up and repeat it.
(Begin butt-kissing) On that note I'm friggin delighted with the rest of http://PegasusNews.com. You guys are doing the kinds of stories I had hoped to find in DMN or the Observer. Local politics, business and education stories.
To read the other publications - you'd think that Dallas was all about bad music and militant Christianity. (End butt-kissing)
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Mike Orren Staff
Sanders, on the first point-- I generally agree. Like I said, we try to take a tongue-in-cheek approach on those things.
That said, all butt kissing is encouraged and appreciated. You get what we're trying to do. Stay with us and tell a friend or thirty. Especially your friends who might have local products and services to advertise to a targeted local audience ;-)
And, one other thing we have that those other publications largely do not is a forum for active and thoughtful locals like you to discuss, comment, correct and add to the conversation. (See, we can kiss up too!)
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Sanders Kaufman Verified
Yeah - it's the discussion forum that really tops this site off.
Belo tried having discussion forums on http://WFAA.com, http://DallasNews.com and http://TXCN.com - but they all became very hostile places, rife with web predators. And since the webmasters were only part-time, they really didn't like spending time working the web site.
It's really kinda cool to be able to talk rationally about stuff, knowing that when the abusive little trolls pop up, the webmaster is paying attention and taking action.
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DianeBrandon Anonymous
Hey, I'm the one who created those vacation packages and no one was paid for anything, Sparky. I didn't even know about the study until I got a call from the Oprah show asking me for videotape. Yes, I wrote the release and yes, I sent it out via PR Newswire.
I didn't even know this story made it to Pegasus News as I was busy hosting a radio promotion from Oklahoma City - 6 young, cute girls who came looking for men.
Dude, this is all in good fun and in the attempt to draw more visitors to the city which pays me to publicize it.
And I'll have to say that Pegasus News actually DID write the story from my press release, they did not simply post my release.
Mike, I thought this story was hilarious. My thanks to you for making me look smart. I'm marching into my boss's office right now to let her know I need a raise, just as you guys suggested.
By the way, the Palace of Wax thing was because even if they're in wax, Brad Pitt and Kevin Costner are nice to look at (the reality is that as an attraction, they're very good partners). Even in wax, maybe they won't hold my hand, but they won't yell at me for my latest shoe purchase, either. :)
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
Salt Lake City to meet singles? I can't even cope with that. Aren't they like 120% mormon?
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Sanders Kaufman Verified
Wow. That post by Diane provided very interesting insight into how a fake news story gets planted, and how the ones who write fake news stories justify their actions to themselves.
It was "all in good fun" and it was done to "draw more visitors". In other words - it was a paid advertisement that was disguised as an actual news story.
Bleeeccchhhh!
This is exactly how Fox4 News in Dallas operates. They regularly have "breaking" news about how "YOU can find the best prices on airfares". But it turns out to be the talking heads just reading some paid advertisement from an airline.
Bleeeccchhhh!
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DianeBrandon Anonymous
It was NOT fake news. It might not be news that YOU need (because apparently that is the barometer by which all things are measured), but it was news. And not one word I wrote was wrong or blown out of proportion.
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Teresa Gubbins Staff
diane - TG here - i posted the story - we LOVED your press release and very much appreciated the opportunity to have some fun with the story.
having worked at a daily newspaper for 12 years, i know that the majority of "stories" that appear in papers and on TV are basically taken straight from press releases. one of the things that's terrific about pegasusnews is that we have the opportunity to take it to another level and have some fun with it.
p.s. i'd be happy to write a letter of recommendation for that raise/promotion!
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
luniz Anonymous
This is a regular feature in MH Sanders, they list the top (or bottom) 50 cities for whatever: health, income, heart attacks, fatness, etc. They do a different list every issue. So it's not like that was paid for, and that was basically what the article was about. I don't think there's anything wrong with using it as an opportunity to present other "interests" available in Arlington. I suppose I can go back and look for the original article if you're actually interested. To be honest I usually just skip it and read the recipes.
1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DianeBrandon Anonymous
Teresa, it's good to know where you've landed! I think we have interacted before - probably when I was in the West End or at the Hard Rock Cafe. Always enjoyed working with you.
I had fun with that story, too. I can't guarantee that every single gal will find the man of her dreams here, but it was fun way to get our name out, get people on the web site and thinking about buying packages here.
Let me know when you're in town and we'll do the proverbial PR lunch.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DianeBrandon Anonymous
Theresa,
This story is being rerun this Friday, July 20th on Oprah.
Just thought you'd like to know.
1 year, 2 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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