Gotta share this! The Mexico Taxi Project! Even though this video is created and paid for by the Mexican Tourism Board, I think you’ll see the truth and sincerity behind the message. Tourists from L.A., Chicago and New York were asked about their experiences in Mexico as they returned to the U.S. from vacation. Oaxaca fits into the same category as Los Cabos San Lucas and Tulum and Puerto Vallarta — SAFE! My son and daughter-in-law are going to Tulum (flying into Cancun) between Christmas and New Years. Have a great time, I say. I know they will.
Stuart Elliott, NY Times business/media writer says (November 21, 2011) …
Although the name of the campaign is the “Mexico Taxi Project,” there are no Mexican taxicabs involved. All the videos, which can be watched on television, as well as online at mexicotaxiproject.com, take place in the United States, not Mexico.
The taxis in question are actually black cars, giving rides home to tourists who have just arrived back in this country after taking vacations in Mexico. There are hidden cameras inside the cars, which film the tourists answering questions from the “drivers” about their trips.
The people involved in creating and sponsoring the campaign told me they decided to film the ads in the United States because they believed they would get more honest, forthcoming comments that way than if the ads were filmed in Mexico.
“It was important for the conversations to take place once the visitors were home,” said Gerardo Llanes, chief marketing officer at the Mexico Tourism Board, because if they were filmed in Mexico they might have felt they would “have to be nice and polite.” He offered this comparison: “If I go to your house and don’t like the furniture, I wouldn’t say it.”
