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Some States Just Don’t Know How to Promote Themselves

Larrylambert
3 min readJun 30, 2022

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Let me help.

Cartoon by Lambert-King

I often have YouTube TV playing as I’m writing. Occasionally, an ad will catch my attention. One such ad was a commercial promoting tourism in Nebraska. Admittedly a tough sell. But still, I think they could have done a better job.

The ad shows people floating down a river in giant washtubs. The voiceover says, “Nebraska, honestly, it’s not for everyone.” I’m not sure it’s possible to undersell Nebraska as a mecca for tourism, but these guys might have done it.

I also saw an ad advocating Nebraska because a bunch of cranes stop there during March as part of their migration itinerary. The same tagline, “Nebraska, honestly, it’s not for everyone” is used.

And finally, there is another ad that likens Nebraska to an odd kid. It goes on to say that kid can be pretty cool when you get to know him. Or grows up to be a serial killer. Do you really want to take a chance? Of course, the same catchphrase is used. I think a better slogan would have been, “Nebraska, do you feel lucky?”

But my home state isn’t great at self-promotion either.

As I’ve mentioned, I currently live in Oklahoma. And what is Oklahoma’s state slogan? “Oklahoma is OK.” Just a little tweaking of that slogan would…

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Larrylambert
Larrylambert

Written by Larrylambert

You probably don't know my name, but have likely seen my work. I've written for numerous syndicated cartoon strips and my gags have appeared in national pubs.

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