Story Archive

Beyond Hope

Gov. Gina Raimondo’s $5 million project to market Rhode Island had already drawn skepticism with the slogan: “Cooler and Warmer.” Then it released a tourism video. The video begins with a lighthouse, then pigeons, then Providence’s old railway station building. The narrator says: “Imagine a place that feels like home, but holds enough uniqueness that you are never bored.” Cut to ...a skateboarder in Reykjavik, Iceland. “A mistake was made,” said the chief marketing officer of the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation. IndieWhip, the ad agency that made the video, said it was fixing it at no cost to the state. It also explained that the shot taken in Iceland was “footage ... of a Rhode Island skateboarder, filmed by a Rhode Islander.” (AC/Providence Journal) ...Rhode Island: You can go to Iceland from here.