linkCan you think of anything nice to say about New Jersey?Don't feel bad. New Jersey can't, either. The Garden State is suffering another bout of inadequacy after paying a consultant $260,000 for a new state slogan - and coming up with the clunker "New Jersey: We'll win you over."
"It starts with a negative connotation," Acting Gov. Richard Codey said last week, after deep-sixing the phrase and ordering his bureaucrats to come up with something better. "It kind of reminds me when I was single and I asked a girl out," Codey said. "She said no. I said, 'Go out with me one time, I think I can win you over.'"
But New Jersey isn't just playing hard to get - it's tough to love, as anyone who's ever sat in a turnpike traffic jam or smelled the smokestacks of chemical plants can attest. A new slogan was supposed to entice tourists past the concrete and rust of New Jersey's cities and the endless strip malls of its suburbs to the serene vistas that remain in the Garden State - breezy seashore, rolling farm fields, winding rivers. But it's tough to sell that image for a state better known for its backed-up toll booths. "New Jersey and you, perfect together" worked in the 1980s, but efforts since - remember "What a difference a state makes," anyone? - have fallen flat.
So now's your chance to come up with marketing magic: After the consultant's flop, Codey asked the public for its help. You can call your suggestion in to (609) 984-9893, or submit it at nj.gov/slogan.
The Daily News had a few suggestions printed in the paper (but not online):
- "I kinda like New Jersey."
- "The smell-me state."
- "Home of the New York Giants-- and the New York Jets."
- "Where the affluent meet the effluent."
- "Joe Piscopo lives here!"
Topic: New Jersey needs a new state motto (Read 1676 times)