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Celebrity Cruises To Undertake Hawaii Cultural Training
MIAMI, Oct. 2
After canceling an advertisement that offended many Hawaiians and
acknowledging its poor judgment in running it, Celebrity Cruises today
accepted an offer from the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau
(HVCB) to provide cultural training for its marketing staff.
In a letter sent to the company over the weekend, HVCB President and
CEO John Monahan said, "It's likely that this advertisement may have
been created and approved by Celebrity Cruises due to a lack of
understanding of Hawaii's society, history and traditions. If so, HVCB
will be pleased to make arrangements to help educate your marketing
staff about our islands."
HVCB has put Celebrity in contact with the Native Hawaiian Hospitality
Association to provide cultural values and awareness training.
Dan Hanrahan, Celebrity Cruises president, reiterated the company's
regret over the insensitivity of the company's ads, which depicted the
King Kamehameha statue holding a champagne glass.
"We are deeply sorry that our ads offended so many people," Hanrahan
said. "It was certainly never our intention to be disrespectful to the
people of Hawaii, and we sincerely regret any concerns that were
raised by our indiscretion."
Celebrity announced it will publish ads in two of Hawaii's major
newspapers this week to make its apology to the Hawaiian people more
public.
The original ads, which Celebrity immediately pulled after learning of
their unintended effect, had appeared recently in several travel-agent
publications.
Celebrity Cruises has nine ships. It began sailing in Hawaii in 2001,
and, today, also sails in Alaska, Bermuda, California, the Caribbean,
Europe, Galapagos Islands, Mexican Riviera, Panama Canal and South
America. It will begin sailing in Australia and New Zealand. |