Šlesers and Flick yesterday presented the first phase in Riga's new tourism campaign. Things got off to a bad start when journalists were sent this version of the ad complete with one big Freudian slip.
oops... was supposed to be "Leave". Click pic for larger size.
This ad has almost something wrong with it everywhere you look. First of all the whole slogan just sounds clumsy in English, certainly not up to the level of what it should be.
Riga City: Easy to go. Hard to leave. You understand what they were trying to get at but probably needs to be written a bit different. Firstly you dont need to call it Riga City, people will understand fine enough if you just say Riga. Easy to go - maybe 'Easy to visit' might be better. Hard to Leave is probably the only thing right in this slogan.
Have a look at the tagline at the bottom. Birthplace of Christmas tree - a 'the' in there wouldnt go astray. Then under that is something I still cant figure out what its supposed to mean: Now for 499 years What the...?? I cant even imagine what it was in Latvian before they got their literal translator to have a go at it.
Lastly the photos. OK this may be purely subjective, but to me those images say nothing. In an abstract way, which I would understand, it still says nothing. A heart with an eye in it (EDIT: Took me awhile but I just work out its supposed to represent I LOVE = eye heart) and a fat viking opera singer.... thats just got Riga written all over it!
