Bother...why are the Frewnch so touchy feely?
Get your hands off me frog boy!
Posted on 05/30/2003 7:02:55 PM PDT by fightinJAG
No Amour for France Can France Make Us Love French Fries Again?
May 30— In an effort to win back hearts in the United States, France has commissioned a little schtick from one of America's best-known comedians: Woody Allen.
"I don't want to freedom kiss my wife," says Allen says in a new ad spot. "I want to French kiss her."
The new charm campaign from the French Government Tourist Office aims to tug at our heartstrings and employs a très français sensibility. But is this lighthearted approach, set to a soundtrack of romantic French music, enough to rekindle the romance for Americans?
France's staunch opposition to a war in Iraq soured many Americans on the longtime ally from across the Atlantic. But now, there is concern that French-bashing has gone way too far.
Jean-David Levitte, France's ambassador to the United Staes, has suddenly found himself the point man for the French image makeover. He has been crisscrossing the nation trying to undo the damage, with stops in cities such as Atlanta and Houston to try to boost his homeland's image.
But it's not just regular folks he has to try to charm. He has encountered some anti-French backlash in the top levels of American government.
"When I saw, for instance, the restaurants of the House printing 'freedom fries' instead of french fries, and the menu of Air Force One printing 'freedom toast' instead of 'French toast,' I said, Hey, stop,' " Levitte said.
French Tourism Drops Drastically
The backlash is serious business. By some accounts the drop in American tourism has cost France $500 million. Levitte says the issue is bigger than boycotts of champagne.
Levitte is up against some uncivilized behavior, including angry Americans dumping out the best French wine, à la Boston Tea Party, to make a point. A French dry cleaner's was vandalized.
Meanwhile, Americans seem to have been taking perverse pleasure in the humor of it all.
"If the French are mad at us, we must be doing something right," David Letterman joked on Late Night with David Letterman.
But Levitte isn't laughing.
"It's my job to remind that these funny little jokes are not so funny, because they are taken seriously on the other side of the Atlantic," he says. "We may differ on very serious issues — war and peace, pre-emptive war, international law, but is it a good reason to have this campaign of French-bashing?"
A Smear Campaign?
It's not just an economic issue — it's a social one, he says.
"It goes beyond calls for French products," Levitte said. "When you insult the French people, simply because they are French, then it's a kind of racist campaign."
He insists doors in Washington are still open to him — but the public rhetoric stings.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has said that the French should be punished for their lack of support over Iraq, and Secretary of State Colin Powell has suggested there will be consequences.
Levitte says he doesn't know how to take such statements.
"My message is that we have better things to do than punish each other because we're not in agreement on an important issue," he said.
Levitte is so frustrated he actually wrote a letter to Congress and the Bush administration accusing the government of condoning a smear campaign against the French.
"I would say it is encouraged by some people in the government, especially in the Pentagon, the civilians in the Pentagon," he said.
Then there's the jokes of late-night comics like Letterman and Jay Leno.
"It's not funny because if fuels resentment," Levitte said. "You know, people in France see that and say, 'How can a great democracy like America be so petty, so absurd?' We may differ on war and peace, but please, french fries are french fries."
Claire Shipman and Joy Kalfopulos produced this story for Good Morning America.
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