In the upbeat new TV ads promoting Kansas attractions, the Kansas Department of Commerce blessedly limits its use of the current state slogan — “Kansas: as big as you think†— to an afterthought. We wouldn’t mind seeing the 3½-year-old phrase replaced. Those who don’t see a problem should consider the reaction of one out-of-stater, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch columnist Joe Blundo. In a recent rumination on state slogans, Blundo suggested Kansas might even be repelling tourists with the tagline: “Far from attracting me, the slogan just makes me dread having to drive through Kansas on the way to Colorado,†he wrote.
The Kansas City Star recently asked author and branding expert Steve Cone what he thought of “as big as you think.â€â€œBig?†responded Cone. “Meaning what?â€
The problem with such slogans, he said, is that “there’s nothing head-nodding about them that makes people say, ‘Yeah, that’s exactly right.’â€
Asked about one former slogan, “Land of Ah’s,†Cone said: “They probably should have kept it. Oz will always be associated with Kansas. When you get a great line, it’s intriguing. People won’t get tired of it.â€
Eagle food columnist Joe Stumpe recently suggested some tasty replacements for “as big as you thinkâ€: “Kansas: Meat. Wheat. Chew on that.†Or “Kansas: Open wide.â€
59 Comments
“KANSAS: THE SUNFLOWER STATE” is still the best state slogan. Recognizable, bright colors, has a tangible meaning.
“As big as you think” is kind of like the Kansas motto, “To the stars through difficulties.” Sounds good at first glance but what does it really mean? I suppose it’s kind of a mild prayer.
I think it’s perfect…it made ‘as bigoted as you think’ the best slogan ever.
Kansas: There are things to do here. No really!
Kansas: Where Twister isn’t a board game.
Kansas: We’ve got the REAL Rodeo Drive.
That’s the only way a Kansan will retire as big as they think!
During the contest where, for some stupid reason, “As Big as You Think” was picked, someone submitted “Kansas, A Beauty of Its Own”. Anyone who has been through the Flint Hills, or seen the kinds of storms that sweep across the prairie (like the one last night), the prairie (particularly in the spring or fall), the glacier deposited rocks in northern Kansas, or the wind and water carved rock formations in western Kansas, or towns like Concordia or Achison or Lindsborg, can appreciate the meaning in that slogan. Kansas is no recreational mecca, it is not a destination, but it has its beauties that can be appreciated by those who linger as they travel through.
Here’s a new one, Kansas Twister chasing capital of the world!
KANSAS — Gateway to Nebraska
Kansas, Amber waves of Grain.
ksagnostic,
Whoa…I wonder if one of us hit our head this morning getting out of bed.
I can certainly agree with your post.
I travel all over Kansas from Elkhart and Liberal to K.C. and Pittsburg to Atwood and there are some simply beautiful areas of Kansas, very diverse in topography.
Kansas is beautiful, but a secret to most of the U.S.
The cjonline.com, from Jauary 8th 2005, states the slogan cost $1.7 million a year to run. $1.7 upfront, $1.7 from Legislation each year there after, $1.1 million to implement the campaign, $181,500.oo to develop the slogan, $137,000.oo for travel and research, $261,000.oo for strategic planning and creative production. All paid by the Kansas Lottery. These amounts are deducted fro the education budget for the states public schools. Chris Moon wrote the article. He is at chris.moon@cjonline.com . This is $1.7 million times 4 years. 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, going on, 5 years. $6.8 million thus far and another $1.7 for 2009. That will be $8.8 million at the end of the 2009 year. $8.8 million to see, “Kansas, as big as you think”. $8.8 missing from the public schools. Governor Sebelius has to go! The Kansas Legislature needs restructured. Vote well!!!! Herbert West III, Candidate for Sheriff, Miami County Kansas, Nov 2008. west.herb@yahoo.com
Is that Sebelius’s slogan? What’s your point.
“Kansas: Where Twister isn’t a board game.”
I love it! I nominate it for best slogan entry!
Well, here is my suggestion for a proper slogan: “You haven’t seen anything yet”
Well, here is my suggestion for a proper slogan: KANSAS:“You haven’t seen anything yet”
.
Sorry, needed to insert “KANSAS:”
Kansas: Where everyone can be a weatherman.
Kansas: Not really in black and white.
“Kansas, where science is a nail biter.”
LOL- Where science AND SEX ED are nailbiters lol.
Actually I really like Kansas: A beauty of its own.
Really I do. We’ve got a number of us who like that- and we never agree on anything here!
“Kansas…as BIGOTED as you think” was probably the most accurate slogan we’ve ever had.
“Kansas… as wingnutty as you think” would be even MORE accurate.
I’d say that as long as the wingnuts control the state, the brand, as they say, is broken. It’s in the trash.
So.. maybe a state slogan without the name “Kansas” in it would be the best idea for the state.
How about “pssst. We’re ashamed too!”
OT — BOY it’s good to see you farmgrrl!
Ksfarmgrrl-
I’ll second that. With all the weather out your way, and no word from you, I was concerned that the weather had gotten the best of you!
Yeah, well, it has been exciting here watching the tornadoes while standing at the kitchen window. Especially exciting when the TV says “one on the ground (blank) miles from (blank).
My roomie and I looked at each other and then looked up, ’cause where they were saying was RIGHT OVER MY HOUSE! hoo boy!
Then the professional storm spotters came FLYING by, no kidding, about EIGHTY miles an hour down my one lane dirt road. Knot heads. Had ANYONE been driving, say, trying to get HOME during that storm, there would have been a head-on high speed crash.
IMHO, the storm spotter thing was MORE dangerous than the tornado. I know like little boys, they get all excited and wanna get the BEST picture but…
No one with HALF a brain drives 80 down a one lane dirt road and expects to live if they meet another vehicle. It’s only a matter of time before one of these storm chasing bozos kills someone.
Besides themselves….
But we did need the rain. Could have done without the hail. And I see NOTHING has changed on the blog.
Glad your okay kfg, everyone was worried about you. :)
Thanks for your concern. Although reading what’s been posted here about gay and lesbian PEOPLE, I have a hard time imagining anything but a stake and a bon fire here for anyone not hetero.
Only a wingnut like etheridge would bring a business to this ignorant and hateful state.
Will you wingnuts have terry fox, joe wright, or phred phelps give the sermon at the ceremony when the last person leaving kansas turns out the lights?
“My roomie and I looked at each other and then looked up, ’cause where they were saying was RIGHT OVER MY HOUSE! hoo boy!”
That’s gotta get the old ticker humming, eh?
Glad to know that you are safe and well, Ms. Grrl, you and yours.
Try to be good, you know what all those RR preachers say about God’s wrath!
It’s not god I’m afraid of. Or Al Quiada.
Like Chris Rock, I’m afraid of Al Cracker!
For those expressing sincere concern, I thank you.
For the others? KMFWLA
OK, I give… (so did google)
What is ‘KMFWLA’
If you want my position on gay marriage kfg, I’ll tell you. I think it should be allowed, can’t think of any legal reason for it not to be. I have some misgivings because of my faith, but I understand that my faith isn’t what matters here and I shouldn’t impose it on other.
I do get weary of the false posts that it might be genetic, so I fight the bad science as I would on anything where I think that science is bad or political or has an agenda. Maybe one day there will be some implicit science on the matter, but now it is not there. People disagree with me, I’ve just seen nothing to indicate otherwise.
It’s unimportant if it is genetic or not, there is nothing about gay marriage that can be considered illegal so let’s get on with it and stop wasting time and people’s life force.
Kiss
My
F’ing
White
Lesbian
A$$
???
Close Sol :)
KM-FAT-WLA
“Yeah, well, it has been exciting here watching the tornadoes while standing at the kitchen window”
In all sincereness, next time try watching them on a tv in the basement! I have seen the result of not doing so.
HA lj, well, ya know, us farmgrrs arent afraid of anything out here, much less the weather. Just Al Cracker.
Tom called us from Wichita to tell us to get our farmgrrl butts to the basement just in case we were not watching tv.
And of course, all my pals from Texas called because they heard Trego county had blown away.
I reminded them we werent going anywhere unless Mr. Peabody’s coal train hauls us away.
cool. Anyway, glad to hear you are okay.
I dont care HOW MUCH money the state puts into promoting tourism, the reports of the cars blown off the Interstate and folks killed in their cars will be all the “traveling” public remembers.
And as for the “long drive” across Kansas, I had a friend in Michigan who used to say that Kansas was just one big wheat field you had to drive through to get to Colorado. She thought it was best to do so at night!
Glad you’re OK Farmie.
How’re the crops/live stock?
Kansas: Die from heat and drought or floods and tornados . . . take your pick!
Regular posts, “If you want my position on gay marriage kfg, I’ll tell you. I think it should be allowed.”
More of the “new” Regular.
Good on you, as the Australians say. And I’m not kidding.
“I’d say that as long as the wingnuts control the state, the brand, as they say, is broken. It’s in the trash.”
-farmgrrl
Maybe farmgrrl can explain to her readership why she has chosen to live in state where the brand as SHE says is trashed.
It’s so funny that there are those who feel that Kansas is wingnutty and bigoted but somehow choose to eke out a comfortable existence in the same.
Perhaps living in so called bigoted and wingnutty community offers certain benefits not available in communities perceived as being less wingnutty and bigoted.
Why stay here farmgrrl? Is it just a mere coincidence that the area farmgrrl deems attractive for her chosen way of living happens to coincide with an area that she considers to be wingnutty and bigoted?
The CONs love that word “choice,” don’t they, just as long as it isn’t applied to abortion that is.
KsFarmGrrl was born here, RFL. The CONs think people can just pull up stakes and move to Seattle or Madison, Wis or even Lawrence.
CONs are always telling me I should “choose” to move to Europe because I like their health care system.
Sure, I wouldn’t have a job, my retirement pension and Soc. Security would be cut in half, I couldn’t speak the local language, I’d have no friends or family in the area, but I should just up and move to Europe.
Dumb.
Dumb.
Seemed to work for you in your beloved china…
For ksfarmgrrl,
Not my perspective expressed below, just posted to liven up your day.
Glad you got missed by the weather too, we need the stimulated posting you provide, less any swearing or acronyms of such nature.
A Kansas farmer watched his young daughter playing in their garden. He smiled as he reflected on how sweet and pure his little girl was. Tears formed in his eyes as he thought about her seeing the wonders revealed there. Suddenly she just stopped and stared at the ground. He went over to her to see what work of God had captured her attention. He noticed she was looking at two spiders mating.
‘Daddy, what are those two spiders doing?’ she asked.
‘They’re married and they are mating,’ her father replied.
‘What do you call the spider on top?’ she asked.
‘That’s a Daddy Longlegs,’ her father answered.
‘So, the other one is a Mommy Longlegs?’ the little girl asked.
As his heart soared with the joy of such a cute and innocent question he replied ‘No dear. Actually both of them are called Daddy Longlegs.’
The little girl, looking a little puzzled, thought for a moment, then took her foot and stomped them flat, saying ‘Well, we’re not having any of that brokeback mountain stuff in our garden.’
Brings a tear to your eye…doesn’t it, I guess for different reasons depending on one’s perspective.
May be she really didn’t care what they were doing or even that in her perception they were both male, as long as no one tried to call it marriage.
I think they speak your language in England, Capn.
You have no friends in Europe because you do not live there. Living in Europe might improve your ability to find European friends
I also think they speak english outside of Kansas. You can move away from wingnutty and bigoted Kansas and still speak the local language of any of the other 49 states and territories and Canada.
I did not realize that being born in Kansas means you are not allowed to leave for greener “less bigoted” pastures.
RFL,
Haven’t you heard of the “Kansas Rectangle” with it’s one-way borders?
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/30_years_of_mans_life_disappear_in
How about “Bigger Than You Wish It Was When You’re Trying To Drive To Colorado!”
RFL, as disingenuous as ever, I see. A person can be quite dissatisfied with a place that she calls home, and it is not inconsistent to stay home.
That being said, there are a lot of good things about Kansas. I know quite a few people who have moved out, done well, but then come back. Sometimes I really miss the corner of the state I grew up in (the Flint Hills) but Wichita is OK. Let’s not forget what happens here when the right tends to overreach. Do I wish that, from my point of view, politics here was more enlightened? Yes, but politics isn’t everything.
Besides, there are places far wingnuttier than most of Kansas. For example, I’ll take most Kansas over southern Missouri any day.
I am not ready to leave and turn the lights out.
Well . . . except, like, the above!!!
Kansas – John 3:16
Kansas, Your not in Oz anymore.
Kansas, Use your imagination
Kansas, Eat, Sleep, and Die
Kansas, You can’t have your cake and eat it too
Kansas, A good place to die
Kansas, Open spaces, and closed minds
Kansas, A good place to raise your kids and down your hopes
Kansas, affordable, but is it worth it?
Kansas, stay awhile, it’ll grow on you
Kansas, Windy because Nebraska sucks, and Oklahoma blows
Kansas, If you don’t have a sense of humor the State will provide you some anti-depressants
Kansas, suprisingly a low suicide rate
Kansas, where herds of trucks and suv’s still roam the open prarie
Kansas, Your the attraction
Kansas, If life hands you a Lemon
Kansas, Blood Sweat and Tears, have a beer
Barnie,
You are a BORE!
Barnie,
You are a BORE! But not nearly so much as the Monkey!
And Barnie, you’re not tastelessly rude and vulgar.
“Kansas, surprisingly a low suicide rate!”
(Unless you’re the son of a gay-bashing congressman)
—————-
That’s a pretty vile, disgusting and low rent comment, don’t you think Monkey?
“That’s a pretty vile, disgusting and low rent comment, don’t you think Monkey?”
Yeah. It’s vile, disgusting, and low rent.
Just like the past 39 years of Mary Jo Kopechne “jokes.”
I’m just trying to catch up.
—————–
Oh. Lib think.
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[...] blessedly limits its use of the current state slogan ?? ???Kansas: as big as you think??? ?? thttp://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/05/time-to-retire-%e2%80%98as-big-as-you-think%e2%80%99/Hammers join the race for Swiss star Wanstead and Woodford GuardianWEST Ham are reportedly going [...]
[...] Barnie wrote a fantastic post today on “Comment on Time to retire â??as big as you thinkâ?? by Barnie”Here’s ONLY a quick extractKansas, Blood Sweat and Tears, have a beer. [...]