Volume 3, No. 11. June 13, 2003
Father nose best
Father’s Day is upon us, the day for such heartfelt gifts
as bad ties and gosh-awful aftershave, outings to the zoo with the kids and
olfactory enrichment opportunities for the animals.
The former play into the latter for this year’s Father’s Day promotion
at the Caribbean Gardens: The Zoo in Naples in Naples, Florida. Fathers get
free admission to the zoo this Friday through Monday with one paid child’s
admission and a bottle of aftershave or cologne.
“We were doing a Father’s Day promotion of dads getting in free and
were looking for the media angle,” said Tim Tetzlaff, the zoo’s director
of education. “What could we have for a photo op more unusual than, ‘Look,
we have dads in the zoo’?” Tetzlaff’s creative cohorts then saw
the opportunity to educate the public on the zoo’s behavioral enrichment
programs, a leading one being olfactory stimulus.
“This holiday is just associated with bad aftershave,” Tetzlaff said.
“This gives dad a chance to clear out that medicine chest of stuff he never
wears anyway.” Then, the animals get new landscapes for their noses. As
for that other bane of Father’s Day, ties, “there’s nothing appropriate
we could do with that for the animals,” Tetzlaff said.
Unfortunately,
keepers have found that one of the animals’ favorite scents is a Mary Kay
perfume called Angel Fire, and it is unlikely any dads will show up with a bottle
of that.
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
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