SUBMITTED BY: Erik Paulsen LOCATION: Times Square, New York City (2012) When posing for a Tacky Tourist Photo, it is usually customary to embrace the quirky statue or mascot as if you are best friends. Yet, there is something rather skeevy about getting intimate with a Naked Cowboy you just met. Enter the brilliance [...]
Archive for the ‘Tacky Pop Culture Worship’ Category
SUBMITTED BY: Barrie Mirman LOCATION: Cannes, France (2011) Once a year, you can find movie stars like Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Lui gallivanting around Cannes during the film festival. The rest of the year you can BE them. (On special assignment from TTP, Barrie Mirman recently crashed a wedding on the riverbanks of [...]
SUBMITTED BY: Sharon McHale LOCATION: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (2011) Any run-of-the-mill rock star can get immortalized at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, but how impressive is it to have a shrine in downtown Ulaanbaatar four decades after last topping the Billboard charts? Mongolia’s Beatles monument is a tribute to the role that [...]
SUBMITTED BY: Leigh Hanlon LOCATION: Chicago, Illinois (2011) Will the keywords “Marilyn Monroe” and “topless” send Tacky Tourist Photos’ web traffic through the stratosphere? Maybe if this were still the year 1962. (Photographer Leigh Hanlon, aka “The Chicago Cowboy,” blogs at ChicagoScope.com. Curious about this half-finished statue? Check out our Cheeky Controversy post about [...]
SUBMITTED BY: Various Artists LOCATION: Chicago, Illinois (2011) Is the 26-foot tribute to Marilyn Monroe a magnet for pop culture perverts or just harmless fun? Our Tacky Tourist correspondents report there is plenty of evidence to support both scenarios. “Although the sculpture itself isn’t anything groundbreaking and it would probably be better located in New [...]
SUBMITTED BY: Peggy Dillon and Adrienne Lopes LOCATION: Ellis Island, New York (2010) A brilliant exercise in historical product placement, Mattel and Ellis Island have teamed up to let you explore your ethnic heritage through cocktail dresses and itsy bitsy pairs of shoes. “Wouldn’t Barbie have had a pink boat, complete with a hair [...]
SUBMITTED BY: Darren Garnick LOCATION: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2010) Everyone knows how to retrace the historical steps of Sylvester Stallone. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is a lot more accessible to tourists than the snowbanks of Siberia — if you have your heart set on recreating Rocky IV. But did you know that you can run [...]
Looks like Buzz Lightyear, Jessie and Woody are trying to blend in as tacky tourists on their latest Toy Story adventure. Coming soon to your child’s playroom: A Leaning Tower of Pisa for Barbie to hold up?
Check out today’s CBC headline: “Prince William says Canada ‘far exceeded’ expectations“ Translation: “I thought this place was going to be kinda lame.” Canada can do far better for a celebrity tourist endorsement. Meanwhile, Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton each received a ceremonial white cowboy hat upon entering the city of Calgary — a [...]
According to the CBC, Kate Middleton revealed herself to be a huge fan of Canadian folk hero Anne of Green Gables during the royal vacation to Prince Edward Island. But how big of a fan could she possibly be? If Princess Kate were truly die-hard, she would have picked up one of the braided hats [...]
SUBMITTED BY: Ilya Mirman LOCATION: Pryor, Oklahoma (2011) Perhaps one of the country’s most prolific photographers of wax museum scenes (Jessica Simpson‘s patriotism, George Clooney‘s wedding, Tiger Woods‘ shenanigans, etc.), Ilya ironically stumbled across humans who pose like wax figures. The body language and facial expressions of the Gypsy Pistoleros almost seem too perfect, [...]
SUBMITTED BY: Bill Burke LOCATION: Lake Buena Vista, Florida (2011) According to the Wookieepedia, the Gamorreans were “porcine humanoids from the lush jungle Outer Rim planet of Gamorr, where their technological level was equivalent to lower technology periods that human civilizations experienced more than 25,000 years before the battle of Yavin.” The piglike militants “also [...]
SUBMITTED BY: Ari G. LOCATION: Easton, Pennsylvania (2010) Lots of kids chew Crayola’s non-toxic wax, so we suppose the plexiglass prevents the World’s Largest Crayon from being decorated with teeth marks. (Ari G. is a frequent TTP model who recently yanked the Liberty Bell from its hinges.)
SUBMITTED BY: David Pryke LOCATION: Carlsbad, California (2010) We’re usually blown away by the realism captured in most official LEGO sculptures, but the essence of the Evil Empire isn’t looming over LEGOLAND. Whether they fight with light sabers or their bare hands, our bets are on the mild-mannered guy in the plaid shirt and shorts! [...]
Tweet SUBMITTED BY: Mariel Backman LOCATION: Berlin, Germany (2011) Early on in a dating relationship, how important is honesty in your man or boy toy? (Travel buff Mariel Backman recently had fun “Crashing the Cold War” at the Berlin Wall).

