Saturday, August 18, 2007

Virginia is for Lovers Campaign

When Cindy told me about this, it sounded like an Apprentice challenge gone horribly wrong.

You probably heard of the "Virginia is for Lovers", with the "O" replaced with a heart. It's been around for as long as I can remember. The state's tourism agency decided to update the slogan by adding "Live Passionately" into the slogan. The ad slicks include a women who is using both hands to make a heart.

Cute enough, right?

Sure, unless some spent $400,000 dollars and didn't realize that the hand symbol was also a sign associated with the Gangster Disciples gang, a Chicago based gang known for its large-scale crack cocaine operations.

Ooops.

Of course, at $400,000, couldn't they come up with something better than "Live Passionately?"

1 comment:

George said...

Virginia's tourism agency need not throw out the baby with the bathwater, but rather just embrace the "opportunity". A slight change to the slogan could solve the problem. "Virginia is for Crack Lovers". Problem solved.