Worst tourism campaigns ever?

Posted at 11:44 AM on January 13, 2012 by Paul Tosto (3 Comments)

North Dakota, I sympathize with your tourism anguish. I come from a state where "Better Yet Connecticut" was the best we could come up with to draw tourists away from New York and Boston. Might as well have made it: "Connecticut: Hey, we're over here!"

Yes, that North Dakota "Legendary" ad with the two goofy guys leering through the bar window at three giggling women -- "Drinks, dinner, decisions" -- was a bit creepy.

But a quick Googling turns up some tourism campaigns nearly as tone deaf. My favorites:

Toronto: We don't stink anymore! Hoping to draw crowds after a 2009 garbage strike, city promoters wanted to let tourists know that the city was not a cesspool, so they tried: Toronto Never Smelled So Good. 

Rhode Island is for...people who like anthropomorphic food. The state that spawned toy giant Hasbro hoped to leverage that corporate mirth in 1999 when it declared Hasbro's Mr. Potato Head the state's official "ambassador" of fun. 

The thing is Rhode Island is not the first state that comes to mind when you think, "potato."

The effort led to public art (think Peanuts statues in St. Paul) that seemed like a good idea until one of the potato heads was deemed racially insensitive.

Where are you, you idiot? Australians dig their edgy vibe. So it's natural that ads to promote the wonders of their nation and the earthiness of their people would be a little salty.

"Shrimp on the barbie" started to sound a little stuffy, so in 2006, Australia unveiled a new ad packed with beautiful people saying stuff like, "We saved you a spot on the beach," and "We bought you a beer."

The tag line, though, caused much squirming: "Where the bloody hell are you?"

What was supposed to be earthy ended up banned in some of the countries where Australia was trying to harvest tourists. Two years and $180 million later, the campaign was over.

North Dakota seems like Victorian England by comparison!

What's the worst tourism promotion you've seen?

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Comments (3)

Interesting post, Bob. I've run across several on the web as well. Back in 2007, New Mexico had a couple of ads featuring Aliens at the office talking about recent vacations. The tag line is "New Mexico- the best place in the universe" .

Internationally, there is a New Zealand ad that pokes fun at the Aussies. Two kids at a playground chatting like grown-ups with classic kiwi accents. The tagline is "DIY is in our DNA"....pretty cute. Not sure how effective it was.

The worst I came across were the ads for Israel. One campaign was titled "Hot Israel" and featured a photo spread in Maxim magazine. There is also a campaign to promote Israel called SizeDoesnt'Matter. Their video ads are rife with three's company type innuendos...but are clearly intended that way.
SDM Youtube

Seems ND's was an inadvertent advert. innuendo.

Posted by jay sieling | January 13, 2012 2:58 PM

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@ jay sieling,

The add fills in the blanks as to why Israel has such a little man/woman syndrome with its incessant oppression on the Palestinian people.

Posted by Rosario Flora | January 13, 2012 5:44 PM

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If in fact the innuendo was inadvertent, it makes for comedy befitting the Coen bros Fargo.

Posted by Jim Shapiro | January 13, 2012 9:18 PM

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