Rhode Island tourism video mistakenly features Reykjavik
|
Version 0 of 1. Rhode Island officials have been forced to pull a new tourism video, designed to draw visitors to the state, after eagle-eyed viewers complained it showed a scene shot in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik. The state’s economic development agency, the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, confirmed the error and blamed an editing company. The state released the video at a meeting on Monday night and posted it online on Tuesday as part of a new campaign. The video’s intro features a skateboarder outside a glass building and has a narrator saying, “Imagine a place that feels like home but holds enough uniqueness that you’re never bored.” But people on social media were quick to point out that the glass building shown is not, in fact, a feature of Rhode Island. “Hey, that’s not Rhode Island — that’s the Harpa concert hall and conference center in Reykjavik,” one wrote. "Rhode Island: Iceland Without The Volcanoes." Or, "RI: We Can't Afjord More Bad Publicity." @cluxmoore @phileil @gregnemes Greg Nemes, a designer, visited Iceland in October and said he recognised the photogenic building, which has a steel framework and an exterior skin of differently coloured glass panels. “It was pretty unmistakable to me, so I did some digging around and posted on Facebook about it,” he said. @phileil here's a photo of Harpa concert hall in Iceland, with a skateboarder! pic.twitter.com/SLuAbslc8w Social media users agreed with him, posting side-by-side photos of the building in the Rhode Island video and Harpa. Thanks to sleuthing by @cluxmoore & @gregnemes, seems clear seconds 9-11 of new RI promo vid are from Iceland. pic.twitter.com/jGjnlvunab Early on Tuesday, the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation’s art director said he could “assure that all shots” were in Rhode Island. But later, a spokeswoman for the agency confirmed that the building in the state’s tourism advert is Harpa and said an editing company used the wrong footage. “As the commerce corporation put this presentation video together, explicit instructions were given to the local firm that helped with editing to use only Rhode Island footage,” spokeswoman Kayla Rosen said in an email. “A mistake was made. Once the mistake was identified, the video was removed.” She said the video, which cost $22,000 to make, is being updated at no cost to the corporation or the state. It is not the first time people have been embarrassed because they used incorrect footage in their promotional videos. In February, a TV ad for Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio opened with a scene from Vancouver, Canada. In 2007, Tennessee’s tourism department was criticised for using a photo taken in Alaska. And in 2014, the Republican candidate for governor in Rhode Island was called out after he filmed a TV ad in Ohio. On Twitter, Rhode Island state representative Daniel Reilly, a Republican, questioned the cost of the state’s tourism video and its use of stock footage of Reykjavik. He added the hashtag #nicejob. Nemes, who teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design, said he was not on a crusade to bring anyone to justice and that there was a lot to like about the state’s video. But he questioned why Rhode Island needed a scene from elsewhere to look good. The state released the video and a new logo, with the slogan “Cooler & Warmer,” as part of a $5m campaign to attract tourism and business. |