MANICHAEAN
10-27-2011, 07:51 AM
TOURISM SLOGANS.
William McMichael was out of flavour. In fact, as far as his personal aspirations in Irish journalism were concerned he had hit rock bottom and was still digging.
The reason for his current malaise, an assignment by his editor to assess the effectiveness of tourism slogans. Not exactly designed to set his career ablaze but then it could have been worse. The social circuit column, possibly titled “Whispers to Willie in Wexford,” came to mind.
He reflected on how just about every country and city in the world has its own tourism slogan, and it was getting more competitive each year. "Amazing Thailand" was having to contend with "Surprising Singapore", "Malaysia Truly Asia," "Cambodia Kingdom of Wonder" and Indonesia's "Admit it. You Love It." And it would have pertinent not to have forgotten. “Jamaica No Problem,” when in fact the opposite was the case.
One thought-provoking slogan for an Asian country, a reminder of war-ravaged South Vietnam, was its rather optimistic slogan in the early 1970s: "You've Heard About It. Now Come See It." On the other hand, Spain had its slogan "Everything Under the Sun", not to be confused with Sicily's "Everything Else in the Shade".
William pondered on the perverseness of it all. How for example could one come up with a tourism slogan for a traditional English seaside town like Eastbourne, fed up with being referred to as the "Costa Geriatrica" or "God's Waiting Room" because of its image as a retirement resort. A "Change Your View" campaign perhaps? But no, that also happened to be the same slogan as for Ray-Ban sunglasses.
“What would the Americans have thought of?” he thought. “The US seemed to have the most ingenuity in this field as in trying to attract city dwellers to experience the peace and tranquility of the great outdoors. One of the bravest slogans had been Montana's "There's Nothing Here". “I mean, It takes some guts to promote nothing!”
William McMichael was out of flavour. In fact, as far as his personal aspirations in Irish journalism were concerned he had hit rock bottom and was still digging.
The reason for his current malaise, an assignment by his editor to assess the effectiveness of tourism slogans. Not exactly designed to set his career ablaze but then it could have been worse. The social circuit column, possibly titled “Whispers to Willie in Wexford,” came to mind.
He reflected on how just about every country and city in the world has its own tourism slogan, and it was getting more competitive each year. "Amazing Thailand" was having to contend with "Surprising Singapore", "Malaysia Truly Asia," "Cambodia Kingdom of Wonder" and Indonesia's "Admit it. You Love It." And it would have pertinent not to have forgotten. “Jamaica No Problem,” when in fact the opposite was the case.
One thought-provoking slogan for an Asian country, a reminder of war-ravaged South Vietnam, was its rather optimistic slogan in the early 1970s: "You've Heard About It. Now Come See It." On the other hand, Spain had its slogan "Everything Under the Sun", not to be confused with Sicily's "Everything Else in the Shade".
William pondered on the perverseness of it all. How for example could one come up with a tourism slogan for a traditional English seaside town like Eastbourne, fed up with being referred to as the "Costa Geriatrica" or "God's Waiting Room" because of its image as a retirement resort. A "Change Your View" campaign perhaps? But no, that also happened to be the same slogan as for Ray-Ban sunglasses.
“What would the Americans have thought of?” he thought. “The US seemed to have the most ingenuity in this field as in trying to attract city dwellers to experience the peace and tranquility of the great outdoors. One of the bravest slogans had been Montana's "There's Nothing Here". “I mean, It takes some guts to promote nothing!”