The Stigmas Of Stacey: Magalluf

Zante's Lagana Beach, Crete's Malia, Mallorca's Magalluf. What do they have in common? They have all been, at different times, flavour of the month for a media desperate to wring whatever sensationalism it can from a drink-sodden youth passed out on a pavement.

They are only three. There are others. And like the British media despatches its packs of journalistic wolves in order to gorge on the bodies that have collapsed under the volume of industrial quantities of what can sometimes be industrial alcohol (as in Zante, for instance) or have taken to a night sky and plunged several floors onto rock-hard concrete, so the media in other countries scavenges for its own stories of sex, drink, drugs and very little rock 'n' roll. Which resort has the reputation for being the drunkest? Not Magalluf. It's Lloret de Mar, and Lloret is where French and Italian youth go to lay into each other. Do the Germans know anything about antics in Magalluf? Not really. They know about Arenal instead; Arenal, where German neo-Nazi skinheads set about black bar workers.

Welcome to the world of tourist post-modernism. Once upon a time, in pre-modern days, Cliff Michelmore introduced an ignorant audience to the attractions of Med resorts. Like Magalluf. They were new, exciting and innocent. Presenters and presentation styles changed along with the modern days of increased familiarity with the resorts. And now the post-modernist age has arrived, one in which the travelogue has been swapped for the reality-show appeal of a camera crew hastily racing to a scene of tourist Sodom and Gomorrah, observed by a girl from Luton who has displaced the Lorraine Chase of long ago (not that Lorraine actually came from Luton).

Poor, naïve Stacey Dooley. She has investigated the already investigated. She could as easily have gone off to Malia, though why would she have needed to bother? It is ten years since Sky put out "Sex On The Beach", a documentary which highlighted the drinking binges and sexual promiscuity of young British holidaymakers. Somewhere was needed for Stacey to go to, and as Magalluf has acquired current media flavour-of-the-month status, Magalluf it was.

Stacey's efforts have been a triumph of unearthing the already known. The lesser known she revealed was that the mayor of Calvià isn't a magician - he admitted to not being one - but then mayors rarely are magicians. The greatest problem she presented to a world already in possession of the facts was that of the mugging prostitutes and their organised-crime pimps. You don't actually need the aid of a shoulder-held video camera to observe their activities; just place yourself on a convenient terrace and you can do so live. Manu Onieva's apparent insouciance may reflect the fact that the professional criminal gangs are a Guardia matter, not one that the local police can handle.

The known knowns about Magalluf have been known for long enough. They may have become more exacerbated knowns, but then who helps to make them so? The Staceys of this media world. And will her investigation make any difference? Possibly it will in that it will increase Magalluf's popularity. Bad publicity? Free publicity. All publicity is etc., etc.

Magalluf is popular with the youth end of the tourism market precisely because of Stacey's stigmas (well, not the prostitutes or death by balcony fall perhaps). Magalluf, like Malia, Lagana, Arenal, Lloret and others, and for youth from different European countries (so please, no singling out of the British alone), is popular as it is represents a rite of passage. It is a location for National Disservice in the name of getting laid, getting drunk and getting admitted to hospital. It is an initiation that becomes habit until such time as youth realises it no longer is youth. 

You reap what you sow. How did Magalluf become like Magalluf? Only partly because youthful tourists made it so. But they are mere agents of others' designs, included among whom are tour operators. Ever since Club 18-30 was first conceived (and so the history of such organised alcohol and sex-fuelled youth tourism is now heading towards middle age), tour operators have jumped onto the bandwagon, recognising a fruitful means of filling aircraft and hotel places. Magalluf has been a collective exercise in the exploitation of the easily and willingly exploitable - the youth. And the consequence is what you have, to which one pointless solution is to change its name. Sorry, you can take the dirty water out of the name of Magalluf, but - unless the resort's transformation involves the whole resort - you won't take the dirty dancing, drinking and sex out of the resort.  


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

The Truth About Magalluf Is That We Already Know

So, on Monday, the truth is going to be revealed about Magalluf. It will be the truth according to the BBC and the BBC's Stacey Dooley in particular. I hadn't heard of Ms. Dooley prior to the publicity being given to "The Truth About Magalluf" (BBC3, 9pm), but it appears that she specialises (or someone has created the wherewithal for her to specialise) in getting to the heart of the matter on such issues as kids with machetes (child soldiers) and tourism. She has previously revealed that all-inclusive hotels in Kenya don't exactly contribute a great deal to the local economy or benefit local people. Which is a revelation that does need making, and it isn't one that is exclusive to Kenya.

Not being familiar with Ms. Dooley's oeuvre, I shall reserve judgement until the truth has been revealed about Magalluf, but the advance publicity leaves little doubt as to what this truth entails; it's what everyone knows to be the problems that Magalluf faces, and as such, they hardly need repeating. But of what the programme is to show, explicit sex antics have already been done by "Geordie Shore", balcony-diving has been done to death (literally in some cases) and been the subject of a widely publicised campaign involving Tom Daley, heavy drinking has been a facet of Magalluf tourism life for tourism time immemorial, violence has been around since as long as British tourists murdered a taxi driver (and before). So what is really going to be new? The violence and muggings by prostitutes might be, where some viewers are concerned, but these aren't new where people in Magalluf are concerned.

The local Spanish press is giving the programme ample pre-publicity. Anything that comes with the BBC attached to it normally is, even if the programme isn't on one of the main channels. It is a mark of the influence of the BBC that when its reporters come calling, a Spanish readership gets to know about them. Paul Mason's "The Great Spanish Crash", the one that the Spanish Government have taken exception to, was afforded a good deal of publicity when it was being made. The reason why was because it was the BBC. A further reason why was that questions were raised as to why Spanish television and reporters weren't allowed to do something similar or weren't able to.

Mason has, in some quarters, been criticised for a sensationalist style of presentation not in keeping with the BBC's traditions, which is a load of bollocks. The BBC, as with other broadcasters, has adapted to the demands of the times. The result may not be Richard Dimbleby, but then he's been dead for donkey's years. Doubtless, Ms. Dooley will be accused of similar sensationalism, but the sensationalism is not so much how a programme is made as the subject matter. If it's there, if it happens to exist and to reflect a situation, then it isn't sensationalist as such. It can become so if it exaggerates a situation and fails to reflect the lighter side of Magalluf and not only its "dark side" (and the Spanish press is making it clear that the dark side is what is going to be reflected).

The fact is, however, that the BBC is not the first. Spanish TV has also had a look at Magalluf, and the reaction was pretty negative where Magalluf business owners were concerned, as it was for the showing of the "Geordie Shore" Magalluf special on MTV Spain. But ultimately, what impact does such a programme have? It may make parents concerned about where their youngsters are off to for their holiday initiations, but I don't know that it has much impact on the youngsters themselves. And which youngsters are these? They are mainly British. Magalluf, you might be surprised to know, isn't that well known by some other nationalities; the Germans, for example, as their Magalluf is Arenal. The Russians had never heard of Magalluf until very recently, and they are being herded into the brand spanking new developments in the resort.

I was in Magalluf yesterday. These developments are striking. The Wave House, Nikki Beach, they look very good, and there is more to come. The programme probably won't dwell on these developments, and why should it? It's not a travelogue. But this will be the reaction of some who will complain of a lack of balance and look to attack the BBC yet again. It's an absurd reaction. A point I have made before and will continue to make is that journalism is not about balance. A programme is made, an article is written with a purpose not with a requirement for everything to be weighed equally.

The programme will cause some bluster and some outrage, but it will be quickly forgotten, unless people are inclined to keep banging on about it. But it will be hugely hypocritical if the reaction implies bias. As far as I can make out, nothing that is in this programme is unknown; all of it is known, and it is known because the local media talks about it and because local people and local business owners complain about it.


QUIZ: Yesterday - Grace Kelly and Mika.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Magalluf braces itself for more bad publicity

On Monday evening, 7 January, at 9pm, BBC Three will broadcast a programme entitled "The Truth About Magalluf: Stacey Dooley Investigates". It appears that there will be three further programmes (or perhaps they'll be repeats) in which the reporter, who got "under the skin of this popular resort" (says the BBC website), reveals all manner of unpleasantness - sexually explicit drinking games, vandalism, heavy drinking, violent fights, rape, prostitutes and balcony diving. The local Spanish media is reporting this programme as being broadcast when there is a "maximum audience", though as it's BBC Three it won't be that maximum. Nevertheless, stand back and wait for the indignation.