REGINA (SBP) \u2013 With all the entries accounted for and the votes cast, Tourism Saskatchewan called a press conference Tuesday to announce it\u2019s new ad campaign for the summer of 1999:<\/p>\n
“Saskatchewan: Would It Kill You To Come Visit Us?”<\/p>\n
“We think that this will show the benefits of visiting Saskatchewan.” announced TS president Anne Hawkins, “We just want people to know that, despite the lack of tourist attractions and the abundance of biting insects, that Saskatchewan is a place that you can visit and still be alive at the end of the vacation.<\/p>\n
“This is quite unlike the unpleasant experience of, let\u2019s say, going to Florida and getting murdered by the local riff raff over a pair of Nike high-tops.”<\/p>\n
When asked about the apparent negative and desperate slogan, Hawkins quickly pointed out that the slogan was an entry sent in by Saskatchewan resident Wade Slawson during the “Praise Our Province” campaign. The POP campaign was a thinly budgeted flyer promotion where volunteers placed photo copies of a hand written paper announcement that asked people to submit ideas for a new tourist slogan to promote Saskatchewan. Apparently, the 21 year old Slawson\u2019s idea was chosen from a total of four other entries which included “Sorry about that”, “Gateway to Alberta”, “This place sucks!” and “Would the next person leaving Saskatchewan please take me with them”.<\/p>\n
“Thank you, thank you,” Slawson said, waving his hands in the air triumphantly as he greeted the reporters of the press conference, “really, it was nothing at all.”<\/p>\n
Wearing Gasoline jeans and a Stone Cold Crazy T-shirt, Slawson, a career high school student from Naicam, addressed his interest in the contest.<\/p>\n
“When I saw the flyer posted in the hallway, I just thought, \u2018what the hell\u2019 and sent in the entry,” said the defiantly tattooed Slawson; “I was on my way to skip class when I caught it out of the corner of my eye. I asked my friends if they were gonna enter but none of them gave two shits.”<\/p>\n
TS President Hawkins quickly stepped in and tried to sell the idea to the openly cynical reporters. After a barrage of questions ranging from why the “summer” campaign was starting in November to why no one heard of this “Praise our Province” promotion until now, Hawkins took the offensive.<\/p>\n
“Look,” Hawkins said sternly, “Budgets are getting cut back. This is all we got. Get it? We can\u2019t work with anything else because this is what we were given. We had no money for a backup plan. We had to like it or lump it!”<\/p>\n
When the “like it or lump it” comment was suggested as a possible alternative slogan, Hawkins refused any more questions and Slawson made a gesture toward his privates and yelled, “Suck it!”<\/p>\n
Because of his winning entry, Slawson received a gift certificate from local fast food chain Burger Baron and two tickets to an IMAX movie of his choice.<\/p>\n
[paypal-donation]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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