Borat is paying off gloriously

The old adage that any publicity is good publicity apparently is holding true for Kazakhstan, a Wall Street Journal editorial noted. The country is cashing in on the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” in which Sacha Baron Cohen pretends to be a Kazakh TV reporter. In the past, the Kazakh government has protested Borat’s bigoted caricature and has threatened lawsuits. But the movie has resulted in a number of favorable newspaper commentaries and TV reports about how the country really isn’t backward and, in fact, is a nice place to visit. As a result, Hotels.com has seen a 300 percent spike in searches for accommodations in the country, the Journal reported.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

5 Comments

  1. sunny
    Posted December 5, 2006 at 10:52 am | Permalink

    Any person who would actually visit a foreign country based on some silly nonsense movie has got to be a bubble off center.

    And are these Hotels.com searches just to see if there really is such a country? I doubt if too many Americans really know this country exists.

  2. Vaughn Tolle
    Posted December 5, 2006 at 11:03 am | Permalink

    So, inquiries at hotels.com about Kazakhstan accomodations are up 300%; how have actual bookings increased, if at all?

  3. gster
    Posted December 5, 2006 at 11:11 am | Permalink

    Maybe we need this guy to advise Bush!

    It might make more sense than the current situation.

  4. political_mom
    Posted December 5, 2006 at 11:34 am | Permalink

    Maybe the ones booking hotels think they can get away with raping women for free.

    I don’t see how the movie could have been anything good to show about the country. And they’re right to be offended.

  5. XXX
    Posted December 5, 2006 at 4:49 pm | Permalink

    Cohen is a really funny character. I enjoy his Ali G series.