Scrooge Helps Atlanta Lure Amazon In New Video

ATLANTA, GA — In their effort to attract Amazon to Atlanta, state economic officials have turned to Ebenezer Scrooge.

The star of Charles Dickens' holiday classic, "A Christmas Carol," appears in a new video released by the Georgia Department of Economic Development as it works to lure Seattle-based Amazon, which plans to spend $5 billion on a second headquarters somewhere in the United States.

In the video, Scrooge — who apparently lives in Atlanta now — turns his famous "bah humbug" spirit toward some of Atlanta's star attractions. The Georgia Aquarium is an "overgrown fish tank" and newly built and world-class Mercedes-Benz Stadium is "trash." A visit to World of Coke is a chance to turn up a "barely sippable drink."

"Nothing would be worse than Amazon coming here," the character says. "Why move to a city this terrible?"

In "A Christmas Carol," it takes visits from three ghosts to turn Scrooge around. In Georgia's video, it all starts with Amazon's own voice-activated digital assistant, Alexa.

"The A has so much to offer," Alexa says after Scrooge grumbles about the city.

He then hears from a bunch of happy-looking Atlantans who extol the virtues of the city's restaurants, its music scene and its parks. In the end, a now-happy Scrooge ends up handing out Christmas gifts, dancing at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and even cuddling puppies at the Atlanta Humane Society (which get a special nod at the end of the video).

READ: How Likely Is Atlanta To Land Amazon Headquarters?

The video was created with the help of Dad's Garage Theater in Atlanta.

In September, Amazon announced that it plans to spend $5 billion on the new headquarters, creating as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs in the process. In its call for proposals, the company said the project is expected to create tens of thousands of additional support jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the community where the new headquarters land.

The company estimates that its investments in Seattle, where its current 33-building campus is located, pumped $38 billion into the city's economy from 2010-16. "HQ2" will be a "full equal" to that campus, Amazon says.

Amazon hasn't released any sort of official list of finalists for the new headquarters, but many analysts believe Atlanta is on the short list of cities that could attract the new campus.

Watch the video below:

Photo courtesy Georgia Department of Economic Development