Some people didn’t like slogans like “Show us your Regina” and “The city that rhymes with fun.
The group in charge of tourism in Regina said it was sorry for the slogans it used for its relaunch.
Tim Reid, the CEO of Experience Regina, posted an apology on Sunday night, a few days after the new brand was unveiled on Thursday.
Reid wrote in a social media post, “I want to start by apologizing on behalf of myself and our team for the negative impact some parts of our recent brand launch had.”
“It was clear that some of the slogans we used didn’t live up to what people expect from our great community.”
Reid didn’t say which slogans were considered inappropriate, but “Show us your Regina” and “The City that Rhymes with Fun” were called out.
Reid and Knowledge Regina didn’t respond right away to requests for comment over the weekend, but she will talk about it in an interview on Monday.
‘Sexualizing the city
Kristen McLeod was one of many people who didn’t like the slogans used by Experience Regina. She wrote a letter to the mayor about it and talked with Stefani Langenegger on CBC’s The National on Monday.The Morning Edition.
McLeod said she was shocked when the rebranding was announced and she saw that the organization wanted to “make Regina sexy” on its website.
“It makes the city seem sexual when it doesn’t need to,” McLeod said.
McLeod said she appreciated Reid’s apology, but she thinks it didn’t say enough about how the organization will handle the situation in the future.
She said that after she told people about her worries, she got messages from parents who were worried about how to talk to their kids about slogans that hint at or outright say things about sexuality.
“Instead of trying to come up with something we can all agree on and be proud of, something your seven-year-old could say,” McLeod said.
“When your 7-year-old can’t (and probably shouldn’t) tell you what your city’s slogan is, that’s a problem, don’t you think?”
Experience Regina 
Reid, who is also the CEO of Regina Exhibition Limited (REAL), made his first big move with the rebranding. REAL was put in charge of the city’s tourism organization last year.
It’s an attempt to make money off of a phrase made famous by “Experience Regina,” a video that went viral and was watched nearly 700,000 times after it was put on YouTube in 2008.
The video became very popular after Jimmy Fallon played the song on his show in 2018.The Tonight Show.
Because Regina sounds like vagina, the name of the song made Fallon’s co-host, members of his band, and the people watching the show laugh.
Reid told CBC on Friday that the rebranding was meant to play up the crude joke and comparison.
At the time, he said that the meaning of the phrase could not be changed.
“I think that connection will always be there,” he said, urging people to be proud of the name of the city no matter what.
“That’s not a bad thing for those who want to laugh about it. Embrace it. We’re not going to change Regina’s name any time soon.”
Marjorie Delbaere, an associate dean at the University of Saskatchewan’s Edwards School of Business, said that trying to make money off of a song that goes viral could be risky.
“I know people like to say ‘all publicity is good publicity,'” said Delbaere, “but we strongly connect and code those negative feelings and experiences, so even if we like what we’re seeing, it’s hard to tell it apart from what might have been that previous joke.”
Companies issue apologie
Even though Reid and some of the companies that supported the relaunch were optimistic on Friday, the tone seems to have changed, with companies apologizing or taking down posts that talked about the rebrand.
A clothing company called 22Fresh used to sell sweaters on Instagram with the slogan “The city that rhymes with fun” on the shoulder.
The post, which was made with Experience Regina’s help, was taken down.
In a reply posted on the Experience Regina Instagram page, the organization said that the hoodies are no longer for sale and will not be made again.
Last Mountain Distillery took down a post about the rebranding because some people didn’t like the ad. It has now written a letter of apology.
The post says, “We did not mean for this campaign to be upsetting or gross in any way.”