Belize on Breaking Bad: a “trip to Belize” for everyone. (PHOTO)

Belize Sees an Opportunity in Breaking Bad Euphemism

Belize Sees an Opportunity in Breaking Bad Euphemism

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Brow Beat
Slate's Culture Blog
Aug. 22 2013 4:29 PM

Belize Sees an Opportunity on Breaking Bad

In the latest episode of Breaking Bad, Saul (Bob Odenkirk) nervously suggested that Walter White (Bryan Cranston) order a hit on his brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris), telling Walt that he could send his brother-in-law “on a trip to Belize,” just as he did with old buddy Mike (Jonathan Banks). Walt is hypocritically aghast at the suggestion, but audiences everywhere welcomed the euphemism into the cultural lexicon.

belize_breakingbad

Belize also loved it. Today the Belize Tourism Board sent a toucan-laden public invitation to the entire cast of the show, offering to pay for a relaxing vacation in their naturally beautiful country for all of them, as a reward for five brilliant seasons of television. The ad is a fun and typically creative bit of marketing for the tourism-desperate country, and who knows, maybe the allure of food, friends, and music will be hard to resist. As Seth Stevenson noted in Slate last year, Belize, as a tourist destination, “lacks a sharply defined identity.” Maybe Breaking Bad can help. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

Sharan Shetty is on the editorial staff of the New Yorker. You can follow him on Twitter