Regina is the capital of Saskatchewan, a plains city of 230,000 situated some 240 miles northwest of Minot, ND. It was named for Queen Victoria, because she was a regent, I guess. Its relevance to this post has to do with the way it's pronounced - Regina rhymes with a female body part.
Hold that thought. We'll get back to it, because it's only part of the story.
Tourism Regina recently rebranded, and in so doing, proved that the town wasn't above poking gentle fun at itself. The new name of the tourism bureau, Experience Regina, was lifted from a parodic 2008 song and video created by a pair of Americans who visited the city. It's most excellent in its desert dry humor and earnest tunesmansmith:
Experience Regina commissioned a hip new version as its launch video. It's still pretty great:
Up to this point in the story, we haven't offended any local sensibilities. We've got a bit of self-aware humor, some typically Canadian self-effacing presentation, and some neat civic scenes. Experience Regina probably should've stopped there.
Instead, they amped it up. In addition to the new song, the rebranding campaign added a bit more colorful elements. Sexed it up a bit, if you will. New slogans accompanied the launch, including, "Show us your Regina!" and "Regina rhymes with fun!"
The backlash was predictable and swift. While some Reginans (Reginites, Regineers, Reggies?) were amused, opposing reactions ran from embarrassed ("Well it happened. We live in a real-life meme.") to angry (said one Facebook commenter, "We will see how funny this is the first time a woman is assaulted and asked to “show us your Regina”"), to baffled, ("The only thing more idiotic than this rebranding are the people who cleared it").
Experience Regina quickly backtracked, issuing a statement of regret. Said CEO Tim Reid, “There was such positive feedback around Experience Regina; however, it was clear that we fell short of what is expected from our amazing community with some of the slogans that we used. Regardless of our intent, the impact is valid, and for that, we apologize.”
So I think we've all learned a lesson here. Whimsy, good. Self-effacing humor, excellent. References to female body parts as a component of a public campaign, perhaps not in the best of taste.
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19 comments:
They should have tried "Experienced Regina." Totally different--it's more of a self-aggrandizement than an imploration. The d does a lot of heavy lifting in this situation.
In other news, you may recall that zson asked for another pet and I said no a million times. So he domesticated the feral cat that recently took up residence under our porch. I had no choice but to take it to the vet for shots and good once-over. It's a neutered male orange tabby. Someone (not me) bit off the tip of one ear so he has a roguish look about him. We kicked a few names around but Thurman stuck. Thurman is zcat. zwoman's dog is adjusting.
Thurman! I know someone whose favorite football player is named Thurman.
Glad you didn’t go with Garfield or Heathcliff for an orange cat.
Trivia question: what very famous person sang on the War song “Why Can’t We Be Friends?”
Hint: it was not Eric Burdon, the Animals singer (British Invasion band whose singles include the most popular version of “House of the Rising Sun”), who teamed up with War for a couple of albums in the early 70’s (“Spill the Wine”) before he had an asthma attack onstage and split.
thurman munson!
Oooh, no, but not bad. That guess lands you a clue, though. It WAS a professional athlete.
There are two Thurmans relevant to my rooting interests.
Strom Thurman?
lynn swann!
Scotty Thurman.
I do not root for Strom Thurman. Maybe Maelstrom Thurman
Uma Thurman
bruce jenner
Okay, it doesn’t have anything to do with Thurman. I just learned it when I posited the question.
It’s a big ol’ football player who had just wrapped up his hall of fame career when the song came out in 1975.
mean joe green!
Getting close. Last clue: Amazingly, this guy also had a song named after him (for real) that was released in 1977 by a couple of hip nerds. The song lyrics also reference Rob’s favorite college football team (other than the Tribe).
Deacon Jones.
Those nerds can stab us with their subtle lyrical insults but they just can’t kill the eagles.
I once marched behind Mean Joe Greene in a parade. He seemed like a nice dude. Gave me a coke.
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