This from Mike McIntyre in the Plain Dealer today - why didn't they just get their big brother to threaten to sue the guy?
Last Call Cleveland 'Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Videos' spoof prompts Positively Cleveland to start own video contest: Michael McIntyre's Tipoff
by Michael McIntyre/Plain Dealer Reporter Sunday May 10, 2009, 6:43 PM
Comedian Mike Polk and his cohorts in the Last Call Cleveland improv troupe swear they love Cleveland, even though their two "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Videos" are as devastating as they are self-deprecatingly funny. (Here's the sequel.)
The YouTube videos have made the rounds via e-mail and Facebook for a month. The premise: The "Cleveland Tourism Board" paid $14 million for videos that Polk forgot to produce until the last minute.
The videos feature Cleveland scenes set to a catchy if crushing commercial Cleveland jingle: "Here's the place where there used to be industry ... We see the sun at least three times a year. ... Our economy's based on LeBron James. ... Buy a house for the price of a VCR."
Ouch.
The real "Cleveland Tourism Board," known as Positively Cleveland, figures if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
It's sponsoring a real "hastily made Cleveland tourism video" contest. Applicants can submit short, positive videos beginning May 13, national Travel & Tourism Week, by signing up at www.positivelycleveland.com/hastilymade.
Two winners will get hotel, sports, entertainment and dining prize packages, worth enough to buy three houses.
