CHAMBER OF COMMERCE APOLOGIZES FOR "HUNT FOR THE INDIAN" PROMOTION

In 1969, Skowhegan, Maine erected a statue called the World’s Tallest Indian, in observance of Maine’s 150th anniversary. The statue is dedicated to Maine’s Abnaki Indians, who are known to have helped the Pilgrims make it through a couple of bad winters. This year, the Skowhegan Chamber of Commerce came up with a promotion. The chamber hid a small duplicate of the statue in a local business, and shoppers were urged to search for the figurine using clues posted on the group’s Facebook page. Winners would get a 20% off coupon. Guess what they named the promotion: “Hunt for the Indian”. After swift backlash from the community, the group canceled the promotion and offered an apology on its Facebook page, writing: “Never were we so wrong in thinking that this latest promotion involving the Chamber’s Skowhegan Indian statue would be a good idea. It was never our intention to offend anyone, quite the opposite. It was our goal to honor our community icon, support local business and engage the people of greater Skowhegan.”
* The engagement’s off.
* And they summed it up by saying, “Our faces are red!”
* Maybe they would have caught it if there had been, say, a Native American on the Chamber of Commerce.
* “Should we call it ‘Hunt for the Indian’, or ‘Find the Statue’? Let’s vote after we have some more beers.”
* As an apology, we ought to give them half of Maine back.
* So nobody gets a 20% off coupon? Bastards!
* Just wait’ll Hanukkah, and the town’s “Bring Me a Jew” contest.