You can do better than that, Andorra
November 28, 2016 8:22 AM   Subscribe

A travel company has compiled a map of nearly every country's tourism slogan, from sublime ("Travel in Slovakia - Good idea") to simple ("Remarkable Rwanda" right next to "Beautiful Burundi") to historically boastful (Mozambique's "Come to where it all started" and Egypt's "Where it all begins") to the trying a little too hard ("Incredible !ndia" and Wales' "#findyourepic"). (via kottke)
posted by Etrigan (131 comments total) 25 users marked this as a favorite
 
I had no idea the United States had a slogan. I guess they don't advertise it here. Do people in other countries actually see commercials for the US in between news stories of the US bombing other countries?

I think we need to crowdsource one for Greenland. Greenland: That's Where I'm Literally a Viking.
posted by bondcliff at 8:31 AM on November 28, 2016 [15 favorites]


I wonder whether !ndia or M!ch!gan came up with that one first...
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:32 AM on November 28, 2016


"Jordan: Yes, it's Jordan." This sounds like an SNL skit turned into a full-length movie.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:32 AM on November 28, 2016 [16 favorites]


"Ontario: Ha ha no seriously where do you want to go for vacation".
posted by Quindar Beep at 8:33 AM on November 28, 2016 [16 favorites]


Djibouty: Djibeauty

I love it.
posted by Elly Vortex at 8:35 AM on November 28, 2016 [27 favorites]


Maldives: The Sunny Side of Drowning.
posted by Philipschall at 8:35 AM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


United States of America – All within your reach

Very Trumpian.
posted by chavenet at 8:36 AM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


Yes - I'm in the UK and sometimes see TV commercials for visiting the US. California have their own, as do Florida.

Within the US, states and cities also have tourism slogans. In Atlanta I see a lot of commercials for Tennessee (but apparently not enough that I remember their slogan!) and Charlotte, NC ("Charlotte's got a lot", which may or may not be true, because I haven't been to the city, only the airport).
posted by madcaptenor at 8:39 AM on November 28, 2016


Within the US, states and cities also have tourism slogans.

Hell, we get Pure Michigan ads on Detroit stations, because A) they bleed over into Ohio and Canada, and 2) they remind Michiganders that there's a lot of stuff to do in-state.
posted by Etrigan at 8:41 AM on November 28, 2016


"El Salvador: The 45 Minute Country." I assume they turned down "El Salvador: Look, You Only Have To Spend An Hour Here And Then You Never Have To Come Back, OK?"
posted by dannyboybell at 8:41 AM on November 28, 2016 [10 favorites]


I lived in St. Louis for a summer and was horrified at how terribly my native Kansas City advertised itself.
posted by dismas at 8:42 AM on November 28, 2016


"Uganda: You're welcome."

Did someone's edgy teenager get this assignment as an internship?

"I got your slogan right here, you're welcome."
posted by explosion at 8:43 AM on November 28, 2016 [16 favorites]


"Charlotte's got a lot"

Here in Raleigh, NC I've seen a couple of those signs graffitied into "Charlotte's not a lot"

Also, whatever happened to "Finland, Finland, Finland, Finland has it all"?
posted by Rock Steady at 8:43 AM on November 28, 2016 [8 favorites]


"Antarctica: The old ways are the best ways"
posted by logicpunk at 8:43 AM on November 28, 2016 [8 favorites]


No Sweden...?

I still suggest The Hygge Capital of Scandinavia
posted by Foci for Analysis at 8:44 AM on November 28, 2016 [4 favorites]


Also Micronesia's "Experience the Warmth" was definitely written by an Incubus fan wasn't it.
posted by dismas at 8:45 AM on November 28, 2016


SWEDEN: Come and see our giant straw goa...oh. Too late.
posted by Wordshore at 8:45 AM on November 28, 2016 [14 favorites]


"Visit Nebraska. Visit Nice."

Time to find another ad agency, Nebraska.
posted by scratch at 8:46 AM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


"Colombia is magical realism" is making promises I don't think they can realistically keep.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:48 AM on November 28, 2016 [26 favorites]


Within the US, states and cities also have tourism slogans.

We used to have "Make it in Massachusetts" but I couldn't tell you what our current slogan is. Probably something like "not as insufferable as our sports fans would have you believe."
posted by bondcliff at 8:48 AM on November 28, 2016


but I couldn't tell you what our current slogan is.

Here's a list. Yours is "Massachusetts – It’s all here."
posted by madcaptenor at 8:50 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Albania: Go Your Own Way

A bit on the nose for a country in the Balkans, but okay.
posted by jedicus at 8:50 AM on November 28, 2016 [11 favorites]


"Latvia: best enjoyed slowly"

Wait one hour after visiting Latvia before swimming.
posted by AndrewInDC at 8:53 AM on November 28, 2016 [10 favorites]


Here's a list.

This is all I can think of when I hear "Virginia is for lovers".
posted by Rock Steady at 8:56 AM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Foci for Analysis: "No Sweden...?"

That's Sweden's slogan. (You're Welcome)
posted by chavenet at 8:56 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Oh, I thought those were made from snarky out-of-context quoting, like the Metafilter: ones.
(Based on the first news story I saw the morning, "Ohio State University: now secure")
posted by ctmf at 8:59 AM on November 28, 2016


I'm baffled that Chad has a tourism slogan, but Senegal doesn't.
posted by leotrotsky at 9:00 AM on November 28, 2016


Think Hungary more than expected.

Well, it is lunchtime.
posted by leotrotsky at 9:01 AM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


> "'Colombia is magical realism' is making promises I don't think they can realistically keep."

I did turn into a brown-throated three-toed sloth for a while when I went there.
posted by kyrademon at 9:02 AM on November 28, 2016 [7 favorites]


Visit Armenia: it is beautiful

Reads more like a instruction than a request. "You visit now.*
posted by leotrotsky at 9:04 AM on November 28, 2016 [7 favorites]


"The Netherlands: The Original Cool, Especially In Summer, so Bring a Raincoat and a Sweater".
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:08 AM on November 28, 2016 [11 favorites]


I hate to give more life to a tired old joke/meme, but almost all of these slogans work well if followed up by "That's what she(/he) said!"

Keep exploring
All within your reach
Real is beautiful
Best enjoyed slowly
Beats to your rhythm
You have to feel it
Experience the warmth
The beach is just the beginning
The 45 minute country
Being first has its rewards
Once is not enough

And my favorite... Explore the Carpathian Garden
posted by Kabanos at 9:08 AM on November 28, 2016 [11 favorites]


Bhutan: "Happiness is a place".

Yes. But is that place Bhutan? I'm skeptical.
posted by dis_integration at 9:13 AM on November 28, 2016 [11 favorites]


I can see why most of the non-slogan ones are so, i.e., current civil war or other drastic upheaval, but West Africa seems strangely lacking. I know a number of those countries have substantial tourism industries.
posted by tavella at 9:16 AM on November 28, 2016


Of course, the classic Progress Island USA (YouTube)
posted by AndrewInDC at 9:17 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


The New Zealand slogans from Flight of the Conchords deserve a special mention here.
posted by Metroid Baby at 9:20 AM on November 28, 2016 [16 favorites]


Cote d'Ivoire: We have an inexplicably large basilica!
posted by ChuraChura at 9:23 AM on November 28, 2016


Yes. But is that place Bhutan? I'm skeptical.

Well, they did institute Gross National Happiness as a measure of national wellbeing. I half suspect that what that means is that everyone is officially happy and any exhibition of conspicuous unhappiness will be corrected with cattle prods by the police, or something to that effect. (They do have a pretty strict censorship regime, for what it's worth.)
posted by acb at 9:27 AM on November 28, 2016


All you can say for many of these is that they've kept some agency in tea and biscuits. I mean - Glasgow's Miles Better (as in smiles, get it?). And the less said about Incredinburgh the better.

The Guardian collected some of the best a couple of years ago.
posted by Devonian at 9:27 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Azerbaijan: BAKU WELCOMED ALL OF US
posted by sfenders at 9:29 AM on November 28, 2016


"So we have to come up with a travel slogan for Madagascar."

"You mean that country in Africa? Isn't it on the southeast coast or something?"

"No, I think it's an island."

"An island? A whole country that's an island? In Africa? Somehow that doesn't sound right..."

"Well, maybe I was misremembering... I mean, I don't know..."

"Here, I'll pull it up on Wikipedia... Hey, wow!"

MADAGASCAR: A GENUINE ISLAND
posted by koeselitz at 9:31 AM on November 28, 2016 [5 favorites]


Not every country though.
posted by gyc at 9:31 AM on November 28, 2016


And the less said about Incredinburgh the better.

The North-East London area of Walthamstow (previously known as the location of a dog-racing track on a Blur album and the naming inspiration for the 1990s boy band East 17) has “Awesomestow”, but that was coined not by tourism agencies but either by hipsters centrifuged out of Hackney by gentrification trying to convince themselves that they landed somewhere great or real-estate agents looking to sell semi-detached houses at a steep premium to same. (I wouldn't be surprised if Foxtons or someone had a trademark on it.)
posted by acb at 9:32 AM on November 28, 2016


But is that place Bhutan? I'm skeptical.

We have some friends here in the US who are from Bhutan. (Actually related to the royal family, but that's another story.) They're pretty much the happiest and most successful family we know.

Gross National Happiness policy is all over the web; here's a reader-friendly version in The Guardian.

Then there's this, which is marginally related but one of the coolest things ever.
posted by martin q blank at 9:34 AM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


I'm sorry, but for mediocre slogans you can't beat what Trenton, New Jersey has written in huge letters on a bridge when you drive in:

"TRENTON MAKES
THE WORLD TAKES"
posted by Itaxpica at 9:39 AM on November 28, 2016 [18 favorites]


(I guess "TRENTON: IT WAS WAY NICER BEFORE ALL THE INDUSTRY LEFT, PROMISE" was too long to fit on a bridge)
posted by Itaxpica at 9:40 AM on November 28, 2016 [6 favorites]


I hope Tim and Eric have seen this.
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 9:41 AM on November 28, 2016


Madagascar: You first heard about us when you played Risk with your brothers.
posted by bondcliff at 9:46 AM on November 28, 2016 [5 favorites]


Trenton/NJ loves that slogan so much it's even in the little model NJ Transit set they have at Penn Station ...
posted by aperturescientist at 9:48 AM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Madagascar: Come With Us If You Want to Live
posted by tavella at 9:51 AM on November 28, 2016 [7 favorites]


My hometown went with "I Believe in Greenville," which struck many of us as needlessly plaintive. I mean we do have problems but we're on a map and everything, we definitely exist.
It was probably inspired by the wider state slogan, "Mississippi: Believe It!" Greenville often gets European tourists who are blues fans, traveling to see the home of the music, and I can see in their eyes that, despite the state's exhortation to, they just can't.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:58 AM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Russia: I'll be back.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:59 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


I think it's hilarious that Pakistan even has a tourism slogan, since the tourist visa application process makes it pretty clear that they don't want you to actually go.
posted by 1adam12 at 10:02 AM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


Djibeauty


I'm gonna call it early for these guys
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 10:05 AM on November 28, 2016 [6 favorites]


Burkina Faso has "A DESTINATION NOT TO BE MISSED"

It's a very unremarkable slogan. I'm confused by their advertising strategy, because I've only ever seen advertisements for traveling to Burkina while in Burkina. Who is their target audience? Apparently these guys couldn't even find it.

Tonga's "The True South Pacific" amuses me because I imagine that they're in a spat with the other South Pacific islands about who's more authentic, and their response is YEAH WELL I'M MORE SOUTHERLY.

"I feel like Tunisia" sounds very appropriate in probably not the way that the people who came up with that slogan intended. Yeah, I also feel that strange mix of optimism and disappointment...
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 10:14 AM on November 28, 2016


Belgium: The place to be [real]
Belgium: Belgium. French Fries? Waffles? Chocolate? Hello? Belgium? Never mind. [accurate]

/half-Belgian
posted by Room 641-A at 10:15 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


"Colombia is magical realism" is making promises I don't think they can realistically keep.

Not realistically, no, but that's where the magic comes in.
posted by The Tensor at 10:19 AM on November 28, 2016 [6 favorites]


Can someone explain El Salvador to me, I don't get it, "The 45 minute country"?
posted by Keith Talent at 10:20 AM on November 28, 2016


Funny how the U.S.'s slogan of "All Within Your Reach" sounded inspiring under the Obama administration, but now it's a stone's throw away from being constantly associated with Trump's "grab them by the pussy."

I have a feeling this dark comedic twist will be a theme repeated over and over for the next four years.
posted by Muddler at 10:22 AM on November 28, 2016 [5 favorites]


Iran: You Are Invited*

(*Offer not applicable to citizens of the United Kingdom, United States, or the Zionist Cancerous Tumour.)
posted by Emma May Smith at 10:23 AM on November 28, 2016 [8 favorites]


Alberta's slogan is (remember to breathe). I guess because of the overwhelming stench of crude oil and manure, a lot of people forget.

(Just kidding. I grew up there. If there is an overwhelming stench, it is of ennui.)
posted by Sys Rq at 10:24 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


From memory... circa 1980s, "Maryland is for lovers" was one-upped by Virginia's "Virginia is for lovers." This was followed by a most unfortunate attempt to connect tourism to trade, with "Maryland is for crabs," accompanied by a drawing of a crab. Unfortunate because you know I mean hello double meaning.
posted by datawrangler at 10:27 AM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


Can someone explain El Salvador to me, I don't get it, "The 45 minute country"?

According to the Lonely Planet Kids Travel Book (a trustworthy source if there ever was one), it's because you can drive to any of its destinations within 45 minutes.
posted by Johnny Assay at 10:27 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


New Hampshire seems to have taken down the joke billboard on their southern border: "Drive With Courtesy. It's the New Hampshire Way!" Too bad; it went so well with the license plate slogan: "Live Free or Die, Motherfucker"
posted by Kirth Gerson at 10:30 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


That's good to know, I was assuming it was the life expectancy of a tourist in San Salvador.
posted by Keith Talent at 10:31 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


"Autentica Cuba" (link goes to Cuba's official tourism website, in English)
I (a USian) got back from two weeks in Cuba early last week. I know I saw a Cuba, but I'm not sure how authentic it was and I was in less touristy places than they highlight on the website.
posted by achrise at 10:31 AM on November 28, 2016


Argentina – Beats to your rhythm
Having attempted to walk on crowded sidewalks in a number of Argentine cities, this is almost certainly the least accurate among all the slogans on the list. There are plenty of great things in Argentina, but it clearly beats to a rhythm 30% as fast as the entire rest of the world. I guess, "Argentina - we'll force you to slow to a crawl whether you like it nor not" didn't work with test audiences.
Morocco – Much mor
Damnit Morocco. I was looking forward to visiting you. Now I'm going to have to pretend I didn't hear your slogan.
posted by eotvos at 10:33 AM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


"Hospitality Beyond Borders" is SO menacing from Lukashenko's Belarus.
posted by millipede at 10:34 AM on November 28, 2016 [9 favorites]


"Colombia is magical realism" is making promises I don't think they can realistically keep.
That's a big improvement over their first draft. "Ask for some of our 'magic'. You're not a cop, right?"
posted by roystgnr at 10:36 AM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


"All within your reach" feels like we're just screwing with the most ignorant European tourists. "Plan to see the Statue of Liberty, then rent a car and jaunt over to Hollywood! We're just a normal country where you can leisurely travel from one side to the other in less than a week!"
posted by roystgnr at 10:40 AM on November 28, 2016 [15 favorites]


Murray's FOTC posters are considerably better and more honest than NZ's current "100% pure" tourism slogan, which is complacent, stupid, and actually downright fraudulent.
posted by Sonny Jim at 10:41 AM on November 28, 2016


Does anyone else remenber "Bolivia: It's Unbelieviable!"?
posted by rocket88 at 10:41 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


I now want someone to put these into a quiz of some kind. Guess the country from the slogan. I'm imagining maybe getting Morocco and possibly Scotland but anyone else - no chance
posted by BigCalm at 10:41 AM on November 28, 2016


Ashgabat: Don't Go To Ashgabat.


Explore the Carpathian Garden

...Preferably at Night...And Without Complicated Neckwear...
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:42 AM on November 28, 2016 [7 favorites]


You can do better than that, Andorra

Adorable Andorra?

Sorry
posted by quaking fajita at 11:01 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Reveal your own Russia...

Oh, is that what Putin's doing in the famous horse photo?
posted by nat at 11:12 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Plan to see the Statue of Liberty, then rent a car and jaunt over to Hollywood!

Ha, I went to a several week training program near Knoxville last year. We had a couple of international groups in the class. The Korean crew decided to see NYC over a weekend and took off in their rental car. Came back Tuesday. The next week, they took off again and missed most of the following week. Rumor has it they went to Vegas, but they wouldn't say. Luckily, daily attendance data was not reported to parent organizations.
posted by ctmf at 11:13 AM on November 28, 2016 [5 favorites]


"All within your reach" would be a great slogan for a family-size bag of Cheetos.
posted by PlusDistance at 11:17 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Years ago, Akron had a tourism slogan, "The Turnaround Town." The joke was, as soon as you get here you want to turn around.

We're much better now, I swear.
posted by slogger at 11:20 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


NYC's official slogan is apparently "I Love New York", which... I guess you could do worse, but it's not the most creative thing I've ever read. It should probably at least be "I fucking love New York"
posted by Itaxpica at 11:24 AM on November 28, 2016


Belize should have been "You better Belize it!"
posted by Svejk at 11:27 AM on November 28, 2016 [11 favorites]


The slogan for the US should really reflect that the country is freaking huge, so much so that most Americans don't even see every part of it. Maybe something like "A whole new world to explore."

Also, I'm surprised some of these countries (like Russia) even have tourism slogans. I kind of picture them as places where tourism is sort of grudgingly allowed, not encouraged.
posted by Mitrovarr at 11:27 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


"El Salvador: Forget Everything you Heard in Catholic School"
posted by Svejk at 11:30 AM on November 28, 2016 [4 favorites]


Hate to be a buzzkill about Bhutan, but they treat their ethnic minorities atrociously. My city is home to a fair number of Bhutanese refugees as a result.
posted by soren_lorensen at 11:30 AM on November 28, 2016


Belatedly realising that Sudan's slogan is not "South Sudan". Was going to award Sudan "best use of synecdoche".
posted by Svejk at 11:31 AM on November 28, 2016


Boy am I glad Lesotho's kingdom is in the sky because they are crazy landlocked.
posted by Svejk at 11:33 AM on November 28, 2016


Years ago, Akron had a tourism slogan, "The Turnaround Town." The joke was, as soon as you get here you want to turn around.

Famous Tires and Basketball Players.
posted by atoxyl at 11:38 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yorkshire: God's Own Country - I believe this is a very old saying that was then co-opted by the tourism board but wtf, It does have a certain ring to it.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 11:44 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


'Say WA!': Say What?
posted by bz at 11:45 AM on November 28, 2016


Chad, your new best friend.
posted by furtive at 11:55 AM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Albania – Go your own way!
I'm humming Fleetwood Mac now. Thanks, Albania.
really hope that song is not in your commercials though
posted by pointystick at 12:07 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Plan to see the Statue of Liberty, then rent a car and jaunt over to Hollywood!

Sometime in the last year, I read a novel written by an English writer who had decided to write a book set in American without learning anything about America. The writer clearly had no sense of the scale of the US, and hadn't bothered to look at a map or plot routes. Their characters were doing things like driving from New York to Chicago in the morning, spending the afternoon, and then coming back in the evening.
posted by Orlop at 12:11 PM on November 28, 2016 [5 favorites]


Their characters were doing things like driving from New York to Chicago in the morning, spending the afternoon, and then coming back in the evening.

this is entirely possible if you're English, it has to do with kilometers being shorter than miles
posted by prize bull octorok at 12:15 PM on November 28, 2016 [6 favorites]


Enjoy Illinois, tiny whoa Abe Lincoln ad

It's a whole series, he goes on adventures. Sometimes he screams the whole time, or says "mmmmmm." If you click the uploader name you can see dozens and dozens of these, in multiple languages.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:34 PM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


I heard a story about a family in Glasgow whose son was traveling to Canada, so they sent a letter to some relatives in Vancouver and asked if they could meet him at the airport when he arrives in Halifax.

Their response was "Why don't you meet him in Halifax? You're closer."
posted by rocket88 at 12:48 PM on November 28, 2016 [11 favorites]


My home area of Calderdale, UK apparently attracted some attention for its slogan, which was dubbed too bleak. Ironically, Happy Valley, released around the same time, which portrays the area as drug crime-addled, seems to have been mostly a positive thing for local tourism.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:13 PM on November 28, 2016


Seriously, why isn't Belize's slogan "Belize...No Extradition."
posted by teleri025 at 1:30 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


The writer clearly had no sense of the scale of the US, and hadn't bothered to look at a map or plot routes. Their characters were doing things like driving from New York to Chicago in the morning, spending the afternoon, and then coming back in the evening.

This apparently happens a lot with non-North American writers of Supernatural fanfic.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:49 PM on November 28, 2016


California have their own

With Shatner, even.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:52 PM on November 28, 2016


TRENTON BLOWS
THE WORLD KNOWS

posted by sixpack at 1:52 PM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


California runs ads for California, but I've never seen the ads outside of California. I would assume it's because they get free airtime on the local affiliates when there's unfilled commercial spaces. My household got really excited when the montage of Tourist-Enticing California Action Shots included Patrick's Point and the lighthouse at Trinidad in HumCo! Actual NorCal almost never gets represented in tourist materials.
posted by blnkfrnk at 1:56 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Madagascar: You first heard about us when you played Risk with your brothers.

That one is already taken by Irkutsk.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:02 PM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


All within your reach ... and while you're reaching, let's just get your fingerprints, shall we? Maybe a DNA sample, too, because you never know.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:23 PM on November 28, 2016


"Incredible India" was what our driver would sardonically intone a couple of times a day when encountering such things as car-sized potholes, jeeps with twelve people hanging on them and any number of maddening things about the country. The slogan: it works.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 2:31 PM on November 28, 2016 [4 favorites]


Also, I'm surprised some of these countries (like Russia) even have tourism slogans. I kind of picture them as places where tourism is sort of grudgingly allowed, not encouraged.

As an American who recently came back from a trip to Russia, I can tell you that they very much encourage tourism... just not from America.
posted by Itaxpica at 3:01 PM on November 28, 2016


Here's a list.

"Montana – Get Lost.
We get the double meaning. You’ll lose yourself in a natural wonderland. However, the obvious meaning turned off a lot of writers. Being that “Get Lost” is also a way of telling someone you want them gone. Immediately. It sounds downright unfriendly. The literal meaning of “Get Lost” also might not be ideal for attracting visitors."

Um yeah, a lot of us were surprised to find that "Get Lost" shirts and bumper stickers WASN'T a campaign suggesting people quit moving to Montana, particularly as it came out during the last Bakken boom.

I guess we had worn out, "I don't give a fuck how they do it in California."

(I have had bumper stickers made that say, "I wish wolves ate Californians." It's an elegant tongue-in-cheek solution to two problems. If you are in Montana and see that bumper sticker on a vehicle, it's either me or someone who knows me.)
posted by ITravelMontana at 3:02 PM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Speaking of California, this thread is incomplete without a mention of its long-standing unofficial tourism slogan: "Welcome to California. Now go home."
posted by The Tensor at 3:07 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


California runs ads for California, but I've never seen the ads outside of California.

Hawaii did (does?) the same thing. When I lived there, I'd see "Lucky you live Hawai'i" commercials all the time. That's even more explicitly aimed at people already there. As in, "Hey how about spend your vacation money locally instead of always flying to Vegas, brah."
posted by ctmf at 3:11 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Misplaced comment.
posted by tavella at 3:22 PM on November 28, 2016


Buffalo: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
posted by Etaoin Shrdlu at 3:30 PM on November 28, 2016 [12 favorites]


A teacher of English in South Korea once told me that the country was looking for a new tourism slogan and decided that the thousands of native English speakers teaching ESL there were a great resource. Accordingly, there was a contest among this group to come up with something catchy. The teachers treated this with exactly the seriousness it deserved. I wish I could recall more of their proposals, but I remember being tickled by "Ghetto Japan" and "Korea: Not Quite Up To Code."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:48 PM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


I feel like the California ads in California are there to remind Californians that 1) hey, your state is huge, go explore the rest of it a little and 2) appreciate all the other tourist traps and national parks, you know, the ones not within an hour or two drive of your particular slice of California. Which, fair enough. Tourists from elsewhere go to the big tourist draws like LA and Disneyland and San Francisco. Californians should branch out and pseudo-staycation at comparative hidden gems like one of our scores of small charming beach towns, small charming mountain towns, small charming desert towns, small charming lake towns (some of these categories might overlap)....
posted by yasaman at 4:14 PM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


This apparently happens a lot with non-North American writers of Supernatural fanfic.

Maybe they picked up the habit from the American writers of Supernatural TV scripts.
posted by Banknote of the year at 4:29 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


"I feel like the California ads in California are there to remind Californians that 1) hey, your state is huge, go explore the rest of it a little and 2) appreciate all the other tourist traps and national parks, you know, the ones not within an hour or two drive of your particular slice of California."

Yeah, and also in the internet age they provide a video portion of general internet advertising. In the past TV tourism ads for states were mostly aired in-state to encourage greater in-state use of parks and so on, and to catch bleed-over into neighboring states. Then they'd often do a blitz around their high tourism season (holiday, summer, fall color, whatever) in more distant TV markets; and the video was part of a package of promotional materials that could be provided to travel agents and the travel industry in general. These days, you make the videos for in-state advertising to get people taking long weekends out to the parks and museums they already pay for with tax dollars to spend their tourist dollars as well, provide them to the travel industry, and then you can put those videos on your tourism websites and provide them to in-state attractions for their own advertising packages and maybe they even go viral on youtube if they're weird enough.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:28 PM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


I like Cambodia's slogan, Kingdom of Wonder. It sounds like it could be the best theme park ever, or a real-time strategy game for kids.

Also big ups to France for using the mother tongue. We are in France, we speak French. OK? Merci.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 5:53 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Hell, we get Pure Michigan ads on Detroit stations, because A) they bleed over into Ohio and Canada, and 2) they remind Michiganders that there's a lot of stuff to do in-state.

They're on central Michigan TV stations too. The old slogan was way better, though.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:08 PM on November 28, 2016


Canada definitely had the most sneakily clever a few years back with "America borders on the magnificent."
posted by kinnakeet at 8:11 PM on November 28, 2016 [4 favorites]


I tried to find a source for the 45-minute country thing, but El Salvador's current tourism slogan seems to be "El Salvador: Impressive!" which feels awfully phoned in. But then they don't seem to do a whole lot of tourism.
posted by phoenixy at 9:29 PM on November 28, 2016


Surprised at the lack of cynicism here! In New York, at least, the in-state tourism-promotion ads used to be a tool for governors to get free TV advertising time:
But as governor, Mr. Pataki has taken the practice to new heights, with ads promoting a health insurance program for poor children, tourism and energy-efficient appliances. While no definitive accounting exists, several groups that track such ads say no other official in the country has put his face before the voters so often at public expense.
The legislature eventually banned the practice.

Also, gotta hand it to the Belize tourism board when they tried to turn their potentially unfortunate mention on "Breaking Bad" into a marketing opportunity.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 10:33 PM on November 28, 2016


Actual NorCal almost never gets represented in tourist materials.

Because huge swaths of it look like goddamn Silent Hill on a good day
posted by invitapriore at 10:48 PM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


I'm mostly kidding, the demon behind the counter at the gas station on main street in Fort Bragg was really nice
posted by invitapriore at 10:48 PM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Morocco: Much mor
Ukrania: It's all about U
Belgium: The place to Be

I'm beginning to suspect there's a one specific country-branding ad agency somewhere responsible for all of these.
posted by sively at 12:29 AM on November 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


And in the same spirit, here are my suggestions for Algeria, Guyana and Afghanistan, free of charge:

Algeria - Algeria has it Al
Guyana - Such a great Guy
Afghanistan: Cool AF
posted by sively at 12:40 AM on November 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


There was a joke tourism advertisement for the Northern Territory in Australia circulating on FB a couple of weeks ago

CU
in the
NT

which a lot of people thought was real.
posted by illongruci at 1:42 AM on November 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


Ukrania: It's all about U

They once had Ukrainian tourism ads in the UK, showing sunny scenes, with the slogan “UK Rain or Ukraine?”, implying that Ukraine is a place one goes for the balmy weather.
posted by acb at 3:02 AM on November 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


I notice they don't have one, so I'll throw this in for the price of a cancelled visa:

North Korea: Why the hell would you want to come here?
posted by arzakh at 3:16 AM on November 29, 2016


Nonsense. North Korea: Best Korea
posted by 1adam12 at 7:49 AM on November 29, 2016


Because huge swaths of it look like goddamn Silent Hill on a good day

Well, yes.

Willow Creek: that "about to get murdered feeling"
Crescent City: Come see our deeply depressing tourist attractions commemorating the tsunami that almost killed everyone
Willets: proudly motivating kids to get the fuck out since 1840-something
Redding: keep on drivin'
McKinleyville: it's where the Denny's is. Don't miss our nonsense totem pole in the Safeway
posted by blnkfrnk at 7:55 AM on November 29, 2016 [4 favorites]


I grew up in Reno, a town with a fairly well-known slogan: The Biggest Little City in the World. Very snappy. But, at some point during my youth, the city's leaders decided a change had to be made to keep fresh and current, and with great fanfare they revealed the newest slogan for our city: Reno! Reno! - Twice the Fun! As if saying it twice was all you needed to have a hoot of a time. It died a quiet death, but still makes me cringe, lo so many years later.
posted by but no cigar at 5:45 PM on November 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


They once had Ukrainian tourism ads in the UK, showing sunny scenes, with the slogan “UK Rain or Ukraine?”, implying that Ukraine is a place one goes for the balmy weather.

Well, Crimea was.

I do find it a little suspicious that Russia annexed Crimea literally the second it became abundantly clear that the plan to make Sochi the go-to Black Sea holiday destination just wasn't working in the slightest. Is it possible that's all there was to that whole mess?
posted by Sys Rq at 8:49 PM on November 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


Belize should have been "You better Belize it!"

Kenya believe it?
posted by chainsofreedom at 2:52 PM on December 22, 2016


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