ROME — The Italian tourist ministry idea it had a foolproof method to bring tourists into the nation: turning a 15th century art icon into a 21st century “virtual influencer.”
The digital performance of Venus, goddess of love, based on Sandro Botticelli’s Renaissance workofart “Birth of Venus,” can be seen noshing on pizza and snapping selfies for her Instagram page. Unlike the initial, this Venus is completely outfitted. The influencer declares to be 30, or “maybe simply a wee bit (older) than that.”
But the brand-new advertisement project is dealingwith considerable reaction — with critics calling it a “new Barbie” that trashes Italy’s cultural heritage.
The traveler project “trivializes our heritage in the most repulsive method, transforming Botticelli’s Venus into yet another stereotyped female charm,” Livia Garomersini, an art historian and activist with Mi Riconosci, an art and heritage project company, stated in a reaction to the job last month.
The yearlong project, produced by nationwide tourist firm ENIT and marketing group Armando Testa, is approximated to have cost 9 million euros (about $9.9 million), according to ENIT CEO Ivana Jelinic.
Jelinic stated that the project was created for abroad markets to bringin moreyouthful travelers. The online Venus introduced in Italy on April 20 and made her worldwide launching in Dubai at the Arabian Travel Market earlier this week.
“We liked the concept that it would be a work of art that is ageless,” Jelinic informed The Associated Press, including that Botticelli’s Venus “seemed to us like a never-ceasing icon who might represent Italy well.”
Already the brand-new Venus hasactually been memed mercilessly online, appearing amongst garbage bins, togetherwith Mafia employer Matteo Messina Denaro, and in other less-than godly locations.
The criticism extends beyond the usage of a workofart to the way in which the project was managed, consistingof its usage of stock images and other gaffes like a marketing video including a winery in Slov