Flying abroad? Leave witty remarks at home
New poster exhibition opens in Tel Aviv ahead of High Holidays travel season in bid to raise awareness to Israeli tourists' behavior, improve image overseas
The past summer alone saw some three million Israelis pass through Ben-Gurion Airport. Every person leaving the country serves as an ambassador of the State of Israel – whether he or she likes it or not.
A new exhibition launched this week in Tel Aviv aims to raise awareness to Israeli tourists' behavior abroad and improve their image through posters created by graduates of Habetzefer school's copywriting course, in cooperation with the Israeli Goodwill Ambassadors association.
'How lovely that they know us' (Dana Mazor's project)
'Give me the bill, debil (Hebrew word for imbecile)' (Eran Sheleg's project)
The exhibition includes some 90 displays calling on the public in Israel to join the struggle for changing the behavior of each and every one of us while traveling abroad.
'Abroad you are the State'
The Goodwill Ambassadors association was established in 2001 by several Israelis in a bid to raise awareness to the Israeli tourist's conduct abroad, out of the belief that "abroad you are the State."
'There are enough animals in the world – don't become one of them' (Nimrod Amit's project)
According to Yuval Limon and Lior Verona, the association's co-founders, "The cooperation with Habetzefer was created in order to operate on additional channels, to increase exposure and mainly awareness to the importance of our behavior as Israelis abroad.
"In addition strengthening the educational activity in educational institutions and among youth delegations in Israel, we are also very active on the PR level, and so the connection with Habetzefer was a natural one."
Yigal Baron, director-general of Habetzefer and the Israel Advertising Association, says that "like in any final project of every course at Habetzefer, we choose a real body to work with, in order to give students another experience of practical work.
"We aim for these bodies to have an agenda which contributes to Israeli society or culture. This time, the Israeli Goodwill Ambassadors association provided our students, every Israeli and everyone who cares about our image abroad, with an interesting and important challenge."
The poster exhibition is on display at Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Center
