Gawker
New York City: It is surrounded by New York state. This is the key message that state officials are hoping to communicate to you, the public, with their new and improved "I Love NY" campaign [NYT]. "There are a lot of beautiful pictures of serene mountains and lakes. How do you make your mountains and lakes different?" asked an ad exec. By polluting them with dioxin and a plethora of prescription drugs? No, it turns out the answer is to suggest that "we have the pulsating heart and soul of New York City in everything we do." In fact, it looks like the whole campaign is an attempt to slingshot some tourists out of the city for little jaunts upstate. Which will be hard, because New York state pretty much sucks.
I say that from a position of ignorance, because I've never bothered to explore upstate NY much. Primarily because I'm convinced that it sucks. That makes me the target audience for this campaign! So how are they pulling skeptical people away from the confines of the city?
The twist comes in using the powerful appeal of the city to woo visitors to other locales, which is encapsulated in the phrase "The state with the heart of the city."For instance, an ad for New York vineyards asserts that the wine "has to be just as good as what the city offers."
In other words: Why not drive way the hell upstate so you can have some wine that you could've gotten anywhere in your own neighborhood? We promise that we're trying to make it just as good as what you have at home.
Pass.
Why not just stay in Brooklyn? It's the place you can do everything, "from taking a rollercoaster ride, sunning on the beach, and seeing a dolphin show in Coney Island to exploring one of the world's best Egyptian collections at the Brooklyn Museum of Art." Hey, I love New York!
Comments
fuck you
Brooklyn is upstate New York, as far as I'm concerned.
@nddoozer: Effective!
Parts of upstate NY are pretty. They have mountains, lakes and blah, blah, blah. The people, however.....ugh. I was once taken to (not went, that would imply choice), some county fair/tractor pull. Worst. Thing. Ever. Never have I seen so many people without teeth. Also, can anyone explain the accent up around those parts to me? I swear, in some sections of NY State, there is a southern-ish accent to the rural people. Why?
Dolphin show? Meh.
The Donkey shows of Beacon, N.Y., are where it's at.
@TheHonJudgeSmails: And that's just nddoozer's second comment! Imagine the edification and laffs in store for us!
I think we've identified a new advertising trend: saying you're "as good" as your competitors. Ford is doing it now, saying they're "now as good as Toyota" or something. How is that a selling point? Call me when you're better than something else.
@sassypants: Oh my goodness, I hope the hill people didn't touch you.
Here's an idea: why not sell upstate on what it has that the city doesn't? Clean air, outdoor recreation, natural beauty. Keep the city in the city, the country in the country.
And yes, Brooklyn does see upstate.
@Sarcastro: I'm expecting big things from this kid. I'm predicting he/she will be the E.L. Doctorow of the blogosphere.
Upstate NY? I'd rather live in Alderney.
@nddoozer: I get that a lot, but I'm rather selective. *Sigh* Be a doll and carry my groceries.
I'm sorry, but traveling north along the Hudson is a beautiful trip. It is a truly a majestic river.
But yes, bring your own wine. That upstate shit is swill.
Oh, Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton. DO YOU HATE NATURE? The Catskills! The Adirondacks! The mountains, the rivers, the lakes! Waterfalls majestic, autumn leaves turning brown! (The rednecks...no, forget the rednecks!) I'm sounding like Sufjan Stevens! Hell, the NYC DED should just commission the dude to write his inevitable NY State concept thing already, it'll be the greatest double album since Kiss Alive II! God I mean GOD!
But seriously, upstate's beautiful. (Its cities...mmm not quite.)
@TheHonJudgeSmails: fuck you.
See? See how he/she has already impacted the discourse? See?
@dado: Alderney City, even.
"Come to Beautiful NYC and visit one of the largest collections of Condos in the World!"
Delaware: The state that borders New Jersey, which is like, really close to New York City!
Ohio: Only an hour and a half from New York City by air!
Maryland: Home of Baltimore which has just as many murders than New York City despite the huge disparity in population, so take that! (BLAOW!)
Massachusetts: We have a city too!
"Ontario! We're only 11 hours away from New York by train! Occasionally we share the same weather system!"
@TheHonJudgeSmails: @Sarcastro: That's so deep. Can we get Ketched after so few comments? (sounds like a Jackie Chan Rush Hour outtake)
@Pope John Peeps II: Much better than "Yours to Discover."
I (invented symbol for "tolerate") the Dakotas.
@flossy: Just as many murders as, you moran!
@Sarcastro: See, I always imagined that as being said by someone so sick of Ontario that they just hand the whole thing to someone else, like something they're sick of. Like a half-eaten greasy cheesesteak. Or like Jezebel.
"Meh. YOURS to discover."
The area of Putnam County and the mountainous areas around Woodstock is very nice.
They should move that shit closer to NYC. Perhaps they can just bulldoze over that hellhole of suburbia in between Manhattan and Cold Spring.
@cardboardbelt: Nah. The tractor pull was going on! I haven't seen unbridled enthusiasm like that since. The only thing that comes close is NASCAR (from my understanding).
@Word salad:
------>slaps self for engaging<------
Wait. There's a New York State?
Upstate New York: Its NYC without all the brown people. Or any of the other stuff that makes it interesting. And with justice courts.
Reno: We're definitely Samantha.
They get like 50 feet of snow each winter. Nah, I'll take my chemically enhanced, tar laden, piss infused, slush derivative. Thanks.
@Spirit Fingers: Mmmm. pinkberry...
Just stay away from Ithaca, people. The gorges are hungry.
The funny thing about New York State is that whenever I'm there I think, "Wow. This is just like being home in Georgia." Which is sweet and sentimental...but which makes it quite unnecessary to visit if you live anywhere in the United States outside of New York City, because well, New York State is just like everywhere in the United States outside of New York City.
Wreckage, trailers, wrecked trailers, wrecked or ruined towns and farms, strip malls, flies, flies, flies, FLIES, guns, the toothless, the misshapen, the worst and most impatient drivers anywhere, pick-up trucks, road kill, regular power black-outs, shitty internet satellite dishes, Walmart, and so much more!
What's not to love? At least I'm close to Montreal!
hey you cut the little squirrel off the new logo.
My aunt lives in upstate New York and it is beautiful. Her town has a store named Needful Things. After talking to a few other people that live there, it's so apt. We went into one store and the salesgirl said "You're not from here are you?" I said no and wondered why she asked. She said "Well, you're dressed too nice." Wow, the faded jeans and turtleneck was suddenly high fashion instead of comfort.
I love some things about New York State...
I love camping, and Kittatinny is an awesome place to do that. Beautiful campgrounds with streams, badass mountains, etc.
I love going to my friends house up in Monticello. I'm all about taking a rowboat out on the lake, shooting bb guns at beer bottles and coffee cans, playing guitar by the fire, etc.
And...um...I'm sure there's other stuff to do also.
@Pope John Peeps II: Nope, the Häagen-Dazs in Redhook clearly trumps all.
@sassypants: and those damn tractors cost more than my house! they have the work tractor and then there's the PULL tractor. Yeah...
i'm kinda with the fuck you guy. and not just because saying fuck you is hilarious! which it definitely is, btw.
New Paltz: Twice the odds.
i mean, your precious terrible godawful brooklyn which i am so sick of and i'm not from the rest of ny doesn't have things like this thing: [en.wikipedia.org]
have you ever thought about that, huh?! it's pretty freaking awesome.
NYC has no character anymore, ever since it gotten taken over by snarky trust fund babies who post on Gawker in between their morning and afternoon Starbucks as they wait for their next freelance graphics job.
@ExtensionOfBob: Uh . . . there are lots of places in the U.S. - dare I say, a massive chunk of the U.S. - looks nothing like and IS nothing like Upstate NY nor like Georgia.
Our prisions have more rap songs written about them than other, less notorious prisions.
Upstate New York is proof that white people can fuck things up worse than anybody. Florida too.
I also am with the fuck you guy. I have also witnessed my first online bulling of a non-star commenter by a couple of one star general commenters here. Now I get it...
Countryside anywhere is pretty -- if upstate is serious about attracting tourists, someone needs to get out there and bulldoze all the hideous suburban sprawl and the neglected dying cities (Syracuse, Poughkeepsie, etc.) and turn them into fields of wildflowers or something. Like that's gonna happen.
They're lying.
@notalent: Bulling? That's udderly absurd. Nevertheless, I am cowed.
@Sarcastro: He/She's been commenting on YouTube, too:
+ Watch video
"wow, I think this is so great that I just had explosive diarrhea in my pants and then proceeded to smeer them on the screen so pretty much your video is shit!"
@Don Is: I do admit...as beautiful as it can be, there are some places upstate - parts of Sullivan County, for example - that make me think, "Good Lord...how the fuck do people live like this?" I mean the utter lack of civilization is really remarkable. Hard to believe it's the same state we live in.
@Sarcastro: You gotta earn those stars apparently! haha.
As someone who grew up in upstate NY, I'd just like to say that we hate you, too. And please don't come here for college - it's not our fault you got rejected from NYU. Go somewhere "exotic", like Indiana or Wisconsin.
As someone who grew up in the Finger Lakes region, I miss the beautiful, beautiful outdoors. Especially when the weather gets nice.
The reason I don't live there now: I don't miss the ugly, ugly people. I'm shallow. But I'm honest.
OH, please - don't advertise upstate - let it be known to those who know it.
keep the Hamptons crowded and Coney a sandy sewer - don't spoil upstate!
I grew up in Syracuse. With the dying economy and 500 feet of snow, it's a rough place to live at times. But after living here for 2 1/2 years, I've come to miss the mountains, cheap rent, space to think, and the lack of rich, yuppie assholes.
I've learned that I'd rather take the ugly, hard working people over the shallow, selfish, and "beautiful" people any day.
@BalknChain: Who knew that so many tractors were necessary??? Are they the redneck equivalent of accessories?