Las Vegas Giving Out Pardons for Bad Behavior

Feb. 19, 2014 -- Been naughty in Las Vegas? Not to worry, says the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority: You're being granted a presidential pardon.

LVCVA this week launched a Presidents Day stunt designed to play off its' 10-year-old "What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas" tourism campaign. Visitors departing from McCarran International Airport encountered an impressive sign saying: "Vegas is granting you an official pardon for whatever happened here over the weekend. Just look for the guy in the powdered wig."

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There was indeed a guy in a powdered wig, dressed in a red frock coat whose cuffs were shot with white lace. He looked as if he might have wandered in from the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Or perhaps the late Continental Casino.

In a stentorian voice, and brandishing a black quill pen big enough to have come from an ostrich, he bade anyone who wished a pardon to come forward.

The first to do so was a woman who told him she had been "a very bad girl." No matter, said he, she was absolved of all badness and herewith officially pardoned. She--and all others who came after—received a certificate reading, "Las Vegas pardons you for any and all activities, seen or unseen, herein." Attached to it was a sticker imitating a wax seal. It said OFFICIAL PARDON.

Next up: a woman who said that she had shopped too much. "Go forward," said the bewigged man after giving her a certificate, "and enjoy your day."

A mixed-race couple asked pardon for "all the fun we had." Their request was granted, the woman being pardoned directly and the man being pardoned as an "accomplice to fun."

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And so it went, up to and including the guy who, rather than say aloud his reason for needing a pardon, instead whispered it into the pardoner's ear. "I haven't made a pardon out for that for a long time," declared the pardoner, beaming. "We'll keep that between us."

A spokesperson for LVCVA tells ABC News that the authority is always looking for ways to keep the "Stays in Vegas" theme fresh. The Presidential pardons come on the heels of a "Harry, You're Always Welcome" ad that LVCVA ran following Prince Harry's naked Las Vegas pool party. More recently, after the birth of the royal baby, LVCVA ran an ad that said, "We'll See You In 21 Years."