All right, so who’s the Grinch griping about the Mount Pleasant Christmas parade?
Some folks apparently called the town on Monday to complain about an advertisement hanging on the side of the Charleston Cool Bus, a party limo/bus that took part in the 2012 Christmas Light Parade Sunday night. Seems the bus – which is, hello, a party bus – has a huge sign down one side for “Guilty Pleasures,” which just so happens to be a North Charleston adult novelty store.
This is a problem? A town called Mount Pleasant is griping about a bus ad that could refer to chocolate, manicures or Patrick Swayze movies?
Turns out that is apparently a little too festive – or something – for the town. Mount Pleasant Town Administrator Eric DeMoura was moved to issue a statement Monday afternoon throwing the bus, well, under the bus.
“The Town neither sanctioned nor approved the advertising. The party responsible for the float failed to disclose its inclusion on the required entry form and displayed the sign without notice to Town officials. We do not support the adult-themed advertising presented on the float. The language was contrary to the family-friendly nature of the parade and brought controversy to an otherwise exceptional parade.”
Is this what they mean when they talk about the War on Christmas? You could argue the sign was more than friendly.
Tom Gibbs, the bus owner, said Monday that the ad has been on the bus, in one form or the other, for the past year. It’s not like anyone who looked at the bus could have missed it. In fact, before the parade several town officials were seen standing next to the bus. No word on whether any of them were copying down the phone number or Internet address for the store.
The point is, this shouldn’t be any surprise.
“Look at it – all our stuff is ridiculous,” Gibbs noted.
Yeah, but the ad is pretty funny. There’s nothing subliminal about it – just a picture of Santa Claus and a slogan that says “Gifts for the Naughty and Nice!!!” So what if “Christmas stockings” means something entirely different at Guilty Pleasures?
If that’s too risque for Mount Pleasant folks, they’d better stay out of downtown Charleston, where one of our shuttle trolleys is driving around with an ad for the shops at Charleston Place on its caboose that says, in big letters, “Self-gratification.”
Which is what griping about the Cool Bus amounts to.
-30-
OK, you have no idea how many edits this one went through. For a full list of deleted puns, well, I’m not going to send them out. Use your imagination.
One of my favorite holiday classics (look for more soon):