And the Wankley goes to… the Cairns Post, not playing hard to get

The only thing better than finding a great Wankley candidate is when it’s trumped and dumped at the last minute by something even worse.

So first, the honourable mention — News Limited tabloids The Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun and promotion of their new iPad applications. Forget the app, we’re still struggling to get past the horrendously suggestive slogan — “Touch the news that touches you”.

There’s just something about the thought of being touched by news that makes us feel a little uncomfortable. And in case you missed the shameless self-promotion wrapped around this morning’s copy of the papers, News had volunteers (apparently) on the streets this morning…

That’s right; they got their very own spruiker to deliver the day’s headlines straight from the app. Let’s be honest, he’s not really news you’d want to be touched by either.

But enough about them and onto the big guns — today’s Wankley is all about the Big O. Oprah’s coming to Oz, haven’t you heard? Excitement is building across the nation, nowhere more than The Cairns Post newsroom which has run a five-day media campaign trying to entice the chat show queen to the north of the Sunshine State.

If dedicating a whole page to the gig each day of the week wasn’t enough, they even got themselves a life-sized Oprah cut-out. She’s been out and about all week, offering lucky readers the chance to have a happy snap with the cardboard star.

And who wouldn’t want that? They chose such a flattering picture of her after all…

Readers were given the chance to share their stories and recommendations for the region’s must-see spots and things to do.  The top five results have been released day-by-day, each accompanied with a ‘themed’ Oprah, displaying the Post‘s expert use of Photoshop:

Among the top five, all concluding with a delightful invitational pun, was The Great Barrier Reef (“So c’mon, Oprah,  grab your snorkel and dive right in”) and Queensland’s delicious tropical food supply (“tasty, very, very tasty”).  But nothing could outdo the final suggestion of hitting the thrills and spills of Australia’s “Adrenalin capital”:

So are you ready, Oprah? Well, are you?