Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Sells Itself
By the time BORAT breaks big in U.S. theaters on Nov. 3, the central Asian nation of Kazakhstan will be the biggest joke in movies--or maybe the second biggest. Ugly Americans come off far worse than Sacha Baron Cohen's sabre-sharp portrait of a post-Soviet journalist touring the West.
Even so, the country's humorless government has struck back with a PR and tourism TV ad campaign designed to paint Kazakhstan as modern, beautiful, progressive land of men, women, and horses. Horses--who of course have the right to vote in this glorious nation. All the campaign lacks is a truly memorable slogan. Something like, "Kazakhstan: Come for the culture and natural beauty, Stay for the human rights violations."
