So the state once tried out it’s Cooler and Warmer campaign which bombed because some of the footage of the state was actually shot in Iceland. Apparently someone in the production company didn’t know Island is different from Iceland.

And now – they’ve come up with another ‘genius’ idea. Let’s call Rhode Island “Fun-Size”. Now I know of two definitions for this term, neither of which should be used to refer to a state. The first is a small girl/boy, the other is well used sardonically by bigger folks.

It’s sort of how the Tea Baggers didn’t know the negative connotations of that term and when they did changed it to Tea Party.

And Lara Salamano the Chief Marketing Officer of the RI Commerce Corporation – the seven second attention span – yeah for the field of sheep out there it might work. For people like me the more data the better.

In the ProJo article she says:

‘Fun-Sized “means that you can do everything you want that’s really fun on a vacation in a short period of time,” she said. “In the morning, you can be on Narragansett Bay sailing, and in the afternoon you can be at a James Beard-nominated restaurant.”’

Now I remember when RI had the marketing slogan The Biggest Little State in the Union.  That was years ago but the height of the state.

And let me tell you something, I’ve had lots of experience dealing with marketing people. I can tell you there’s usually not the sharpest crayon in the box, some are nice people too, but nice only gets you so far. I’ve also noted a tendency among marketing types to like shiny, flashy things.

The quote from the Providence Journal sums it up: