Babes and Bikinis: Israel Plans to Revamp Its Image

JERUSALEM, April 28, 2007 — -- All countries carry a certain stereotype: Some associate pasta and emotion with Italy, the queen and bad weather with Britain, flashing lights and high-speed trains with Japan, and conflict and religion with Israel.

Israeli officials at the consulate in New York have decided to try to rebrand the negative image associated with their country and have approached Maxim, dubbed America's most-popular men's magazine, to launch a public relations campaign to help them.

The aim of the project is to change Israel's image from a country associated with constant conflict to a different, sexy, fun and vibrant place.

The project began six months ago when Israeli officials in the United States discovered (through market research) that men between the ages of 18 and 35 were uninterested in Israel, and considered the country "irrelevant."

Maxim is going to run a special Israel edition this July that will promote the country to its 2.5 million readership, and the magazine hopes it will revamp Israel's image in the eyes of young American men.

A team from the magazine arrived in the beach town of Tel Aviv, Israel's tourism capital, this March for a five-day photo shoot. Top Israeli female models were hired to market Tel Aviv as a modern, vivid and "sexy city" -- a fun tourist destination. The young girls were photographed frolicking and posing in their bikinis on Tel Aviv beach.

"The aim of the campaign is to show the different faces of Israel," David Saranga, from the media and public affairs department at the Israeli consulate in New York, told ABC News. "The international media tends to concentrate on one dimension alone -- the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict. We hope we can broaden people's view."

Saranga said Maxim is an excellent platform for delivering this message and will target the audience it is hoping to convert -- young men.

Tel-Aviv was the natural choice, Saranga said, because, "It is sophisticated, fast paced and bustling with culture, creativity and excitement."