If it has 'Mayan' in the title, it's flying off the shelves
Ka-ching!
As the new year begins and the countdown to Dec. 21, 2012 intensifies — the day when earth will supposedly implode in a cacophony of cataclysmic events or begin a new age of spiritual awakening — there is seemingly no end in sight to how people are cashing in on the end of times said to have been prophesized by the ancient Mayans.
Call it Apocalypse Cash Cow: The endless stream of books, DVDs, merchandise and even smartphone apps tied to the day when the Mayan calendar ends — and, as a slew of authors say, so will the world as we know it.
“It’s an amazing cottage industry,” said Benjamin Radford, managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine and author of “Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries.”
“It’s as if anything with ‘2012’ and ‘doomsday’ on the cover is being cranked out. There are hundreds of titles already out there, and we expect dozens more. There clearly are people concerned the world will end on Dec. 21.”
A good portion of the 2012-themed books have been published by small houses specializing in paranormal topics, and feature attention-grabbing titles such as “Apocalypse 2012: An Investigation into Civilization’s End.”
But even the respectable “Compete Idiot’s Guide” series published a primer on 2012 to capitalize on the growing interest in the subject.
“They should sell this nonsense by the pound, that’s how much it’s threatening to take over whole bookshelves,” said paranormal investigator Joe Nickell, author of dozens of books debunking assorted myths, legends and supposed hauntings.
No matter that the Mayans, Central and South American Indians who flourished in the first millennium, never said the world was ending on Dec. 21 — only that their calendar was turning over on that date for another 394-year “baktun” or cycle, according to scholars.
“If it has ‘Mayan’ in the title, like ‘The Big Book of Mayan Crossword Puzzles,’ or whatever, it’s probably pretty good for sales,” said Nickell.
It doesn’t end with books. While Hollywood tried to cash in on the subject two years ago with the big-budget disaster movie “2012,” which depicted a global catastrophe complete with tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural mayhem, any consumer with a passing interest in the subject can shop online for items ranging from t-shirts, underwear, clocks, calendars, coins and even more than a dozen iPhone and iPad apps counting down to The Big Day.
Fittingly, the people who stand to benefit the most from the 2012 hoopla aren’t hysteria-feeding writers and opportunistic Internet entrepreneurs.
The Mexican government, hurting from a drop in tourism because of ongoing drug wars in some cities, are pouring millions into a “Mundo Mayan” campaign to promote the culture and lure visitors to such destinations as the seaside ruins in Tulum and the Mayan caves in Aktun Chen.
“The Mexico Tourism Board expects that over 50 million tourists will visit the five states corresponding to the ‘Mundo Maya’ or Mayan world, over the course of 2012 to mark the beginning of a new cosmic cycle in the Mayan calendar,” said Gerardo Llanes, chief marketing officer of the Mexico Tourism Board. “The Mayans mastered aspects of astronomy, mathematics and architecture long before the Western world, and we look forward to sharing this culture with visitors from abroad.”
Just don’t be surprised if travel agents make tourists pay in advance. You know, just in case.
rdominguez@nydailynews.com