Every so often, a state decides it needs an advertising campaign to bring in tourists, attract business, and just try to make all the other states jealous. And so it happens that up in the Northwoods, there's a movement afoot to try to pull ourselves out of the recession by attracting money from across the country, nay, from around the world, to our economy. Sure, makes sense, right?
But as an outsider (since I've only been here about 8 or 9 years), I have to say, I'm a little unconvinced by the popular favorite so far. Somehow, I don't think "Winter: it keeps out the rifraf" has quite the ring that "Virginia is for lovers" had.
I mean, it's accurate and honest, but is this a time for honesty? Did Virginia really have a better environment for lovers than Massachusetts?
I'm thinking something more along the lines of "Winter: an excuse for staying in bed for six months." At least that has some attraction, right?
Other ideas?
I think California's slogan is "stay away, suckers." If it weren't, everyone would live here. :-)
ReplyDeleteApologies if I've posted about this in the past, but the slogans here really crack me up.
ReplyDeleteVictoria's is "Victoria: on the move" (to which most people add silently "to New South Wales". Sydney's was, for a while, "New South Wales: towards 2000." Unfortunately they printed it all over the place, and it can still be seen, suggesting that Sydney is regressing into the past. Western Australia has "Be touched by nature" which I interpret as "Be eaten by a crocodile." And South Australia, bizarrely has "The defence state". Or possibly "The defensive-because-we-don't-have-a-real-slogan State".
When I used to live in Wellington, the powers that be decided to give it a city slogan, and settled on "Absolutely positively Wellington." And yes, it absolutely, positively IS Wellington. I checked. On a map. But that's not really advertising its qualities!
the only one i really remember from texas is: "don't mess with texas." however, i'm informed that they have officially been both the wildflower state and the friendship state, neither of which conveys the image of bubba in his pickup with his second-amendment-approved guns; bubba is integral to how my closest texan friend sees the place.
ReplyDeletecalifornia is the golden state; the official state motto is "eureka," meaning "i found it," in reference to the gold rush. but when i lived in the deep south, my home state was popularly known (HAR! HAR!) as "the land of the fruits and the nuts." which is kind of factual, since we have a lot of farmland and orchards, but they didn't mean it that way....
i guess i don't have a lot of ideas about tourism-friendly slogans. if you're going for the "huh?" factor, can't really top the hoosier state. maybe the challenge of winter keeping out the riffraff will bring out all those skiers desperate to prove they are NOT, by god, the kind of trendy people who go to vail?
Some years ago someone in Wisconsin sponsored a similar contest. (Apparently "The Dairy State" wasn't sexy enough.)
ReplyDeleteThe most memorable suggestion was "Eat Cheese or Die" (h/t Ben Franklin)
Cheers,
Reed