Has the golden age of TV killed our get-up-and-go?
IT IS considered one of the best shop windows for Scotland to showcase its wares, and now the country’s biggest and hottest new internet export, the Kilted Yoga duo, are to boost this year’s Tartan Day in New York by turning up as ambassadors.
The pair – who became internet sensations after appearing topless in Perthshire’s forests in their Kilted Yoga videos, attracting more than 50 millions views – will represent Dundee marketing firm Scot Street Style at the flagship event in the Big Apple on Thursday where up to 30,000 are expected to take to the streets to celebrate all things Scottish.
Tristan Cameron-Harperin and Finlay Wilson – who received a death threat after their work went viral – will get behind this year’s grand marshal, Easterhouse-born actor Tommy Flanagan, celebrating the event that marks the April 6 signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 – although the parade is being held on the nearest Saturday, April 8.
Tartan Day has its roots in the US and Canada but is celebrated in countries ranging from Argentina, where a symbolic key to the gate of Arbroath’s Abbey is carried, to New Zealand, where it is held on July 1 to mark the repeal of the law banning the wearing of tartan.
Scotland Week, the broader marketing push that is wrapped around Tartan Day, has also bolstered commerce and co-operation among communities across the world but a move by former first minister Alex Salmond to set up a similar event in Iran as part of his drive to build cultural and trade links with the Islamic republic is yet to be realised.
Salmond faced criticism on a 2013 trip when it was claimed he used the visit to promote independence.
He wasn’t the only First Minister to be caught out by his zeal amidst the diaspora. Former Labour leader Jack McConnell generated a massive amount of publicity when he turned up at a fashion show as part of the celebrations in a virtual mini-kilt in 2004.
The New York parade this year again takes over Sixth Avenue from 44th Street to 55th Street.
Bands, pipers, dancers and clans from Scotland and throughout the United States and Canada are joining the parade, along with dozens of Scottish and West Highland Terriers.
Actor Flanagan said: “It is an honor to celebrate my culture. I have great pride in my heritage. Although I now live in Malibu, I visit Scotland regularly with my family. I’ll have my daughter flying her flag forever.”
VisitScotland, one of the sponsors of the Tartan Day parade, will unveil a double-decker bus in New York covered in spectacular Scottish imagery: the Glenfinnan Viaduct in the Highlands, Bow Fiddle Rock in Moray and Dunnottar Castle in Aberdeenshire.
The tourism agency representatives will be using Tartan Day and Scotland
The United States is Scotland’s biggest international market and last year we saw a huge increase in the number of visitors from North America
Week as an opportunity to engage with media and to hold a series of meetings.
Other companies going to New York are 21st Century Kilts and beer firm Belhaven.
While some have criticised the event as unquantifiable in terms of direct cash benefit, it is claimed the marketing push helps maintain the country’s largest overseas tourism market.
Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said: “Scottish tourism punches above its weight on the world stage and we need to leverage this reputation to attract new investment, new events, new airlines and new visitors.
“The United States is Scotland’s biggest international market and last year we saw a huge increase in the number of visitors from North America. This was helped by around 90,000 extra seats on services from North America in 2016.
“Scotland Week and Tartan Day serve as an excellent shop window for all things Scottish and this year’s event will hopefully inspire more Americans to come and see our beautiful country for themselves.”