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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Admin |
Posted - 06/28/2003 : 8:45:01 PM
Reprinted from the Clothing Optional Digest
June 26, 2003
To: All AANR Clubs, Regions, Trustees, Officers, Members, and Friends
Re: An immediate direct threat to (and opportunity for) family nude recreation.
Dear Friends of AANR and Nude Recreation,
As Executive Director for the American Association for Nude Recreation, I appreciate this opportunity to present you with some very important recent developments.
Our members and clubs know well of AANR's mission to "promote, enhance, and protect, in appropriate settings, nude recreation and nude living in the Americas." In furtherance of its responsibility to promote nudism, AANR substantially stepped up public relations efforts as 2002 closed. These efforts included making a change to YPB&R, an aggressive, talented PR firm with a strong reputation for serving such major players in travel industry as Disney and FLA USA.
Drawing on strong leadership from PR Chair Susan Weaver and with a clear vision and plan in place, AANR sought its goals with a newfound zeal. The results were incredible: Woodall's Campground Management had already elected to do a cover story on the success of nudist RV parks in late December, 2002. By mid January, The Wall St. Journal was touting the
praises of the nude recreation industry in a full page, full color cover story of its Marketplace section. Forbes online soon followed, joined by yet more mentions in The Wall St. Journal, Reader's Digest, then Elle, Esquire, and Forbes again. In the month of May, 2003 alone USA Today carried no less than three separate stories touting the nudist industry prompting favorable coverage from the CNBC business television network on Memorial Day weekend.
I do not have sufficient space here to thank each and every one of you who did so much to make this success possible. It earned us substantial respect and has already made it much easier for clubs to demonstrate the viability of the nudist market to bankers, financiers, or even just local media and public officials with whom they speak.
Despite such impressive accomplishments, however, there was an important element about what AANR does that was lacking the coverage and attention it needed. A number of you reminded us of it from time to time: We did not have solid, in-depth material from a credible third party publication explaining the appropriateness of nude recreation for families and, especially, youth. This left a gap when it came to assisting those facing child custody issues associated with nudism, and even our work to attract new families.
With that gap in mind, some months ago YPB&R began working with us to approach a couple of prominent, credible, and influential media with the idea of spending more than a cursory visit with one or more regional youth camps. The hard work and investment shown by FANR to its program over the last ten years, echoed by recent work in AANR East and AANR West had produced outstanding camp programs. The caliber of young men and women graduating from these camps was so mature, so talented, that they epitomized what nudism contributes to a healthy mind, body, self image, and sense of personal responsibility. We knew that time amongst these outstanding young people would make a powerful impact on the press.
In fact, this was not to be the first mainstream media coverage of a nude youth event. (Last year JAANR and JFANR Youth Chair Judy Grisham did an interview with CNN from JFANR's camp held then in the West Palm Beach area.) Few could have imagined that The New York Times and Time Magazine would respond with offers to do feature stories on this year's FANR camp.
An incredible amount of planning and work went into getting things right. The results speak for themselves in the articles enclosed. I think you will agree that, while balanced, they are both very positive piec |
| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Admin |
Posted - 08/12/2003 : 10:42:24 AM
The Florida Naturist Association (formerly South Florida Free Beaches) and the B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation have been invited by the Tiger Bay Club of Tallahassee to speak on the issue of the AANR youth camps.
Read about it at http://www.nudist-resorts.org/talk/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=494 |
| Admin |
Posted - 07/30/2003 : 7:31:48 PM
Reprinted from the Clothing Optional Digest
Musings from the Editor
A hodge-podge of thoughts on naturism today.
I returned from Europe a few weeks back, with a new perspective on life in the United States, my home. I found it most interesting that I didn't have any trouble with customs until I returned to the US, where I had to present my passport to four different customs agents, and that was before I had my bags searched!
I didn't get to experience any naturist areas during my trip, but I was told of many areas by the locals in the cities I visited. Myfriends from Germany were going to take me to one area, but the weather was rainy and cold that particular day.
As those of you from Europe already know, attitudes towards the body are a bit more relaxed, not just for naturism, but also for sex. I have to admit, it did take me by surprise to see nudity on the German version of MTV, along with the other channels that had nudity, whether for nudity's sake, or for selling pay-per-call sex calls.. and these were not pay channels.
* * * * *
We wonder here, at the CO Digest, what will be the ultimate ramifications of the AANR public relations disaster with the kids camp. On the surface, it seemed like a good idea for the publicity, but in our opinion, AANR should have expected someone, somewhere to start beating the drum about how bad these camps were. AANR's lack of preparedness, whether the fault of their PR company, or just plain arrogance, may cost nudists and naturists dearly. It has already exacted a huge monetary expenditure by the Naturist Action Committee, which finds itself trying to clean up some of the mess AANR left (and there is no telling how many other groups have had to spend valuable funds, or will have to spend on this folly).
The AANR Youth Camp stories have spread out of control. Even today, a month after the original story in the "New York Times", radio and tv personalities are still talking about it, and not all of them have the facts. Those who watched the ABC daytime talkshow "The View" on Monday know what we mean.
We've seen too many bad laws and policies implemented "to protect the kids", and unfortunately, we naturists may have to pay the ultimate price. Don't be surprised to see laws introduced, and possibly passed to ban children at nudist camps, and beaches. Think its not possible? Ask those families who can't go to Hippie Hollow, near Austin, Texas.
Well, enjoy your day, get in some good skinny-dipping, and work to keep your right to go nude alive. Make sure you are registered to vote, because elections are coming up soon. If you don't vote, you have no right to gripe.
Cheers,
John
This information is provided for education and community discussion. Nudist-Resorts.Org is not affiliated with The Clothing Optional Digest. |
| Admin |
Posted - 07/24/2003 : 2:23:38 PM
The Naturist Action Committee's report on this meeting can be found here.
"This morning a coalition of naturists met with U.S. Rep. Mark Foley on the matter of his public posture and comments concerning youth camps at naturist facilities..." |
| Admin |
Posted - 07/23/2003 : 11:41:19 PM
Subject: Evidence On The Table - re: Richard's "Response"
Let us consider some evidence on the table:
Evidence: Public areas are unprotected. AANR rewrote West Virginia law to protect AANR alone.
Evidence: AANR believes it is the only true voice of nudism.
Evidence: AANR/FANR's paid lobbyist expressed relief that legislators were unaware of nudism.
Evidence: AANR cannot cooperate with other existing and respected nudist groups when invited.
Evidence: AANR cannot cooperate with its own regions, and has destroyed affiliation with them.
Marketing Fact: Once perceived as the first in a field, the leader can be totally incompetent and still ride the public's trust.
Consider: No matter how incompetent AANR becomes, it will always be perceived as the authority, whether we like it or not, as long as AANR is in business.
Liability: AANR if left unchecked will serve its own purposes, to the detriment of other existing and respected nudist groups and communities.
To AANR: You should realize there are multitudes of nudists that work in ways not under your control. You can continue to occupy your comfortable position as leader, but don't expect much broad support unless you learn to cooperate in the important issues to everyone's benefit.
Kevin
Admin at Nudist-Resorts.Org
Presenting his personal viewpoint |
| Admin |
Posted - 07/23/2003 : 11:14:41 PM
Reprinted from the Haulover Digest
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 09:40:41 EDT
From: NaturaSol@aol.com
Subject: AANR's Response on Foley Meeting & Response From the Beach
The following is a response to an inquiry by an AANR member, who had asked the AANR Director why AANR did not attend the meeting with Congressman Foley on July 8, 2003. AANR's Donna Jackson responded.
Due to the nature of the response, we, SFFB/FNA felt the need to respond and set the record straight.
Email from Donna Jackson from AANR's office follows:
The American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) respectfully declined to participate in Monday's media event, as we believe a private meeting or working session, rather than a press conference, would provide a more constructive venue for our assisting Rep. Foley in better understanding nude recreation in general,
Response from Richard Mason, attendee, SFFB/FNA:
The meeting with Congressman Foley, which was set up by BEACHES Foundation, was planned from the very beginning to be a private meeting and working session between Rep. Foley and nudists and naturists from several groups. These included BEACHES Foundation, TNS, NAC, CFN, [deleted re: photos of minors], SFFB/FNA, GNI and others.
The Press Conference was set up as a separate function, after the meeting with Rep. Foley, next door in the Embassy Suites Hotel.
The two separate functions were planned that way over a week before and those plans were relayed to AANR. AANR was originally asked to set up a meeting and a press conference because we and our consultants saw an immediate need to respond to the beating we were taking in the media and from Foley and Florida Rep. Quinones. We believed that AANR should lead the response because of their involvement in the original media releases and the Youth Camp.
We, SFFB/FNA, were willing to participate, financially in a joint effort and also to ask other groups with standing, to join in the effort to educate Rep. Foley and the public through the media.
In fact, Rep. Foley's District Manager, called us and asked if it would be OK if AANR/FANR could bring their lobbyist, Bob Levy to the meeting. Our answer was; "Of Course."
It was our original plan, to participate in a private meeting and work session with Foley, with AANR being the lead organization. Had they participated, they could have participated in the planning, scripting and subject matter of the Foley meeting. Certainly, we would not go into any areas that they would object too, what ever they would be.
In other words, AANR could have controlled the conversation and edit the topics. Their declining to participate, should not have them now inferring that the agenda was not of their liking when in fact, they could have wrote it.
When we received no response from AANR on our request, and learned, after we called them, that they were going to decline this opportunity, we decided to move forward, with the individuals and groups that had previously committed.
Had we not previously committed to the meeting with Foley because we had not heard back from AANR in a timely manner, we would have lost a golden opportunity to meet on July 8th. This could have led to additional weeks of Foley's media blitz of anti-nudist television comments.
The Press Conference was set up by the now employed Ron Sachs Communications of Tallahassee. They scripted the Media Availability meeting from information they had received from SFFB/FNA and from copies of the news articles. (see their web site at: www.ronsachscommunications.com)
Their list of clients and their backgrounds are impressive.
They also effectively notified the media. Because of the respect they have achieved with the media, they were successful in getting out the media to attend our conference.
Again, had AANR/FANR been a participant, they would have participated in the scripting of the Media Rele |
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