Queensland’s official state slogan (well, one of them) is “The Smart State”, which causes howls of laughter and tears of mirth from all and sundry, especially as Queensland is widely regarded as being the second most backwards, redneck state in the entire country.
Fortunately “The Sunshine State” is the other official slogan, which is both a popular and true sentiment.
It always make me think of an old Steven Wright joke:
It’s a small world…
…but I wouldn’t want to paint it.
Ooooh… I know one… The absolutely ridiculous slogan from a 1970’s ad campaign for the Indianapolis department of tourism (or the Chamber of Commerce, or something).
"Move over New York–apple is our middle name!"
It was bad enough in print, but the sappy “Up With People” jingle for the radio spot was the worst.
Burger King.
Target “Expect more, pay less”
This one bugs me every single time I see it. Do they really want people walking out thinking “Gee I really expected more out of this place”
We were driving the other day and crossed into Prince George’s County.
The sign by the road said “Prince George’s County - A Livable Community”.
Hmmmm. That’s reassuring.
Speaking of underwhelming, that reminds me of the communities near the upper South who are “A Certified Business Location”. Gee, I guess if I try to open a store there I won’t be run out of town with pitchforks and torches, that’s reassuring!
Not technically a slogan, but: A few years ago Cadillac ran that series of ads with attractive people driving their Caddies through a tunnel at night. They generally wore facial expressions suggesting that they could tell their long bouts with constipation were about to end suddenly. The first one featured this Brad Pitt-ish guy saying something about the old adage “The nail that sticks up gets pounded down,” and going on to ask something like “Well, would you rather be the nail… or the hammer?” as he punches the accelerator and zooms off toward a Port-a-Can somewhere.
Thing is, that expression is used by people trying to enforce unquestioning obedience to a strict code of behavior. The message boiled down to “Cadillac: bringing people to heel in mindless conformity since 1926.”
Well, when I think of service I get from some shipping companies, at least one of which is brown, it ain’t sunshine and lollipops that come to mind. “Shit” pretty much encapsulates it.
“Ottawa: Technically Beautiful”
The city of Ottawa paid some consultant a lot of money for their tourism ad campaign and this is what he came up with.
I submit Pepsi’s “Brown and Bubbly” campaign from a few Super Bowls past.
Jimmy Dean is currently using a guy dressed as the Sun as their spokesman so naturally the tag line is …
SHINE ON.
There was talk of McDonald’s but no one has mentioned the grammatically suspect “I’m loving it”.