Monday, April 02, 2007

Here There Be Monsters

What is it with Denverites and their parochial attitudes?

People from the Denver Metro area say I’m unfair when I accuse them of thinking Denver is the State of Colorado (possibly including the ski areas), but we have an outstanding example of that mind set in today’s Pueblo Chieftain.

It seems the Western Dairy Council has figured out how to color milk orange and blue, so they thought a tie-in to the Denver Broncos would be a good idea, and they thought the tie-in should appeal to children, who are notorious imbibers of milk and brightly colored foods. And wow, if it could be educational, wouldn’t that just make it all too, too perfect?

So they had a book written with Miles, the Broncos’ bronco mascot, as the protagonist, and sent a copy to elementary school libraries, where there are hordes of those imbibers of milk and brightly colored foods. Miles goes throughout the state visiting places. Except he doesn’t visit any place south of Colorado Springs or east of Westcliffe. In fact, no place names are given in that area of the book’s map, whether or not Miles visited.

What, did the author not know there are football fans in this part of the state? Broncos fans? Or did he just assume none of us know how to read? As Dolores Gersick, librarian at Desert Sage School put it, “Do they think our kids are stupid, or we just don’t matter?”

The article goes on to state:

Steve Harbula, senior director of marketing and communications for the Broncos, said there was “nothing scientific about the method” used to pick the 26 towns that Miles visits in his journey across Colorado.

“We just looked across the state and tried to pick places that were interesting or had something unusual to offer,” he said, adding that there was no intentional effort to leave out all of the towns and cities in Southeastern Colorado.

He can probably be reached at

Denver Broncos Marketing Department
INVESCO Field at Mile High
1701 Bryant St.
Suite 900
Denver, CO 80204
(720) 258-3100

I personally am encouraging every attraction, every municipal and every county government, and any interested citizens to write Mr. Harbula.

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