Pittsburgh slogan gets new twist

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- After an eight-year run, Sparkle Season has fizzled.
The campaign to draw holiday shoppers to downtown Pittsburgh is being replaced with a new -- albeit less catchy -- slogan as merchants try to compete with malls and the Internet for holiday shopping dollars.
The old campaign, with its smiling star mascot, drew complaints that retailers were taking the holy out of the holidays.
A religious freedom group has long criticized Sparkle Season and several years ago bestowed its Ebenezer Award -- a coal-filled stocking -- to Sparkle the mascot, but officials with the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership say such criticism had nothing to do with the change.
Actually, the polish first began wearing off Sparkle Season several years ago when the name was modified to "Downtown Pittsburgh Sparkles."
Another change
Now, it's evolved again.
"We needed to do more to establish downtown Pittsburgh. Something fresher, newer, that really identified downtown Pittsburgh as people are deciding where they are spending their holiday time or their holiday dollars," said Mariann Geyer, executive director of the partnership.
The new campaign, "Downtown Pittsburgh, A Holiday Tradition with a New Twist," will market what makes downtown unique, Geyer said.
The campaign will officially be announced Thursday and will promote free parking, free shopper shuttles, restaurants, cultural events, activities and the city's ambiance.
"If we don't market downtown, who will market it then? You've got to get that product out there," said Geyer.
Tom Michael, president of Larrimor's, a high-end men's clothing store, said Sparkle Season didn't send a clear message about downtown's offerings.
"We need to be better marketers and we need to let people know that opportunity exists," he said. With its restaurants, cultural offerings and shops, downtown offers the "quintessential shopping experience" that malls can't match, he said.
Kevin J. Hasson, president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington, D.C., group which litigates in support of religious expression, said that while he was pleased that the new campaign contains the word "holiday," he still thinks religion is being avoided.
"The question is, why is everybody bending over backwards to avoid saying Christmas and Hanukkah?" Hasson said. "It's preposterous to pretend you don't know what you're celebrating late in December."
Pulling the plug on Sparkle Season "brings down the curtain on one of the most ridiculous and embarrassing municipal efforts ever devised to try and squeeze all religious significance out of Christmas and Hanukkah."