Hey Aruba

I do my best to stay informed of what is going on in the news; however, this is sometimes a very difficult task.  The other day as I was skimming through news feeds from CNN one particular headline caught my attention: Van der Sloot on video: No sleep lost over Holloway's dumped body.  I watched the video as well as the 20/20 interview.

In reference to whether or not this would solve the case one man said, "I hope so...for the sake of this country, because this country has suffered a lot and this is actually a tragedy for this country, which it never deserved."  This statement immediately got me thinking from a PR perspective how a country would deal with a situation like this.

As a result of Natalee's disappearance a lot of people decided to boycott the island of Aruba where she was vacationing.  The boycott is not an official declaration by any country or state, but it is seen by some as much worse.  Scared Monkeys says, "It's a grass roots movement done by John Q. Public, "We the People." Aruba has become synonymous with missing persons stories, not because of the number of ones that occur but because of the manner in how they went about solving the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.  Hey Aruba, ever heard of Scotch Tape? It's not a product, it's a brand...Aruba, you have been branded."

Aruba claims that their economy has not suffered at all from this event.  How could this be true?  Not only has the disappearance of Natalee given Aruba a lot of negative press, but it has also created a brand that I doubt it will ever be able to detach itself from.  People will always associate Aruba with Natalee, and Natalee with Aruba.  I wonder if they will ever be able to recover.  Either way I think I will join the masses and avoid Aruba for the time being. 

Image: www.threebestbeaches.com