Issue date: 6/23/03 Section: Opinion

According to the New York Post, the French Tourist Board has responded to an estimated 15 percent decrease in American tourism with a series of ads featuring none other than America's favorite performer -- Woody Allen.   

This is the same Woody Allen who married his former lover's daughter, the child he helped raise from a young age. Of all the publicity hounds who could have possibly been recruited to go to bat on behalf of France -- and as we all know, Hollywood is chalked full of publicity hounds -- the FTB picked a man who is one step above a child molester to court America's favor. 

In the ads, Allen expresses his hope that the United States and France can "put it all behind them" and "forget about our differences," according to NYPost.com. And what is the logic Allen offers as to why this reconciliation would benefit America? Because, Allen argues, he doesn't want to "freedom" kiss his wife, he wants to French kiss her. What an incentive.   

But enough about Woody Allen. As the adage goes, don't shoot the messenger, and Allen is just that -- a messenger. For many Americans, it probably wouldn't matter who was chosen to be the FTB's mouthpiece. The message conveyed by France is clear: forgive and forget, and let the cash begin to flow.        

The fact is that those Americans who chose to cancel trips to France or to boycott French goods based that decision on well-founded political frustrations with France. For this American at least, nothing short of an apology from Jacques Chirac would regain my monetary support.    

The ad hosted by Allen should be seen for what it is, an attempt by the FTB to make up for lost tourism dollars and not any real change in France's general attitude of anti-Americanism. A good case in point is the turn of events at the recent French Open.   

Enter Serena Williams. Cocky, irreverent and a powerhouse in the realm of tennis, Williams probably seemed the quintessential American to many French spectators. In a semifinal match against Justine Henin-Hardenne, the tide of public sentiment at Roland Garros turned toward Henin-Hardenne. But instead of cheering for Henin-Hardenne, the unruly French Open crowd of about 15,000 cheered brutally against Williams, booing her successes and applauding her mistakes, reports ESPN.com.   

Booing and hurling criticism at contestants may be standard operating procedure at, say, a WWE wrestling event, but such behavior is certainly not considered socially acceptable at a tennis match, which is traditionally associated with tea, crumpets and other upscale niceties. Tennis players who exhibit behavior that is considered unsportsmanlike by the code of proper tennis etiquette, such as throwing a racquet or using obscene language, have committed a faux pas that is taken very seriously by the tennis community. So for fans to make such a blatant breach of acceptable conduct suggests that they must have been driven by a relatively strong emotion. Many have argued that said emotion was anti-Americanism.   

Williams herself denies that anti-Americanism was a factor in the fans' behavior. She attributes the crowd's hostile behavior to wanting to root for the underdog, reports ESPN.com. That argument would make more sense if the Roland Garros crowd had merely been cheering for Henin-Hardenne, but that was not the case. The spectators at the French Open were willing to break a respected, age-old code of etiquette to achieve their goal, which was not for Henin-Hardenne to win, but for Williams to lose. And 15,000 to one isn't a fair match. It was personal, and Williams' American citizenship had at least something to do with it.   

Perhaps the expression "actions speak louder than words" would be an appropriate message to send across the Atlantic.

If the FTB is serious about regaining American dollars, it should a) lose Woody Allen, b) use its ads to address issues instead of Allen's bedroom preferences and c) treat our visiting citizens with some modicum of respect. Anything less and the French fry may be in serious danger of becoming extinct.

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