‘Do Sexual References' to get families to Atlantic City

By Joe Arney

I finally saw one of the "Do AC" commercials the Atlantic City Alliance was so excited about getting on the airwaves in recent weeks.

A better blogger would post a clip, but I haven't had luck finding one on YouTube, so you'll have to start channel surfing if you want to see it. The campaign started this week; the ads are bright and colorful, showing a resort paradise and a lot of text advising the things you can "do" down there, i.e., "Do the Boardwalk, do the catwalk." The text flashes kind of fast — at one point, I was sure I was being urged to "Do Miss America," which sent me to Google to see what age Miss America contestants have to be, but upon further review, you're actually being told to "do Miss'D America," a drag competition intended as a spoof of the real thing, which left town in 2006.

But speaking of Googling Miss America — which really is one of the perks of being a journalist — the ads, which are intended to emphasize Atlantic City's many attractions that appeal to families, and do not feature casinos at all, don't offer a whole lot in the way of family-vacation material, unless you have your own reality show on TLC. Mostly, it's a bunch of twentysomethings drinking, clubbing, sunbathing in skimpy bathing attire and, well, living up to the "Always Turned On" motto that was canceled in favor of "Do AC," such as "Do the Wrong Thing" and "Do Not Disturb."

It's not going to get me to AC, but it's hard for me to be objective about it — last time I was there, about five years ago, I survived an attempted, though poorly executed, carjacking that was foiled by the fact that the attempt took place about two and a half feet from a police car. ("Do Not Turn Off Of Atlantic Avenue" would be my suggested contribution to the campaign.) So I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole, but I assure you people will be talking about this ad. In fact, right now I have to go talk to my IT department about it, and they also want to chat with me about some corporate policy on Internet use, Google and streaming video.