An Open Letter to Visit Lubbock

Dear Visit Lubbock,

I wish bleach could get my shirts as white as your "Lubbock Is Unexpected" ad is.

I understand the concept of a "hype" ad. You're going to show all the exciting things around here. The problem is that this ad is not representative of the Hub City, at least not the one I know and love.

It seems like it was shot when a large percentage of our minorities were given the day off. I don't think I'm being a huge nitpicker here when I say that out of the 1:22-long ad, about 5 seconds or less showed the wonderful diversity we have here. Instead, we get the message that Lubbock is a place for young, vaguely country girls to shop and drink (man, there's a lot of shots of alcohol).

I was not the first to notice this. After picking my jaw off the floor, I checked out the Facebook comments, where someone else said, "good job, but it doesn't do a good job of representing the racial makeup of the Lubbock community." I'd also add that it doesn't really represent the average size or age makeup of Lubbock people either.

The Lubbock experience is a good one that should be explored in depth. Please insert shots of a smiling Hispanic family, a rock concert, and maybe a cool church from the Eastside. Show some skate park kids, some young adults of various ethnicities shooting hoops together, and maybe even some ladies of a certain age and weight smiling and enjoying each other's company on a porch. Oh, and show some Texas Tech (maybe some of that great Spanish architecture).

This ad is what the comedy world would call 'hack.' It's the same old surface notions that an ad agency comes up with when they Google 'Lubbock' for five minutes. This ad is the equivalent of the flair that chain restaurants bring in when they want to pretend they have a Lubbock connection.

In short: Visit Lubbock, I think the people who would be enticed by this ad wouldn't be very happy when they get here...and that's their loss.

Please do better.  #LiveLoveLubbock

Sincerely,

Wes Nessman

Here's the RockShow's on-air take on the ad where we dissect some of these themes: