A new ad campaign aims to change people’s perceptions of the state. From The International Herald Tribune:
When anyone has wanted to know the country’s poorest state, or its fattest, or least educated, or sickest, or most corrupt, the answer has most often been Mississippi.
It has even been rated the worst place to raise a child.
Mississippi has long chafed at those perceptions, which in some cases spring more from stereotype than statistics. Some time back, however, Rick Looser, the chief operating officer of the Cirlot advertising agency in Jackson, acting on his own initiative, set out to counter the low self-esteem inspired by the perceptions.
The advertising campaign that Looser and his colleagues created – called “Mississippi, Believe It!” – addresses the old clichés directly and seeks to turn them to its advantage as a way of spreading a message about some of the state’s more notable accomplishments.
The 14 posters in the campaign, which were sent to schools in Mississippi last year, take umbrage at backwoods stereotypes including monster trucks, hog calling and Klan rallies. In smaller print, the posters describe in detail the achievements of native authors, athletes, scientists and businessmen, and the state as a whole.
Kathy Herbert, 46, a receptionist at Oxford Elementary School, agreed that the state needed a better image, saying that when her teenage children traveled, they were frequently embarrassed to say they were from Mississippi. But she took exception to the posters’ approach.
“I think it’s pitiful,” Herbert said. “It’s pitiful we have to do that.”
Actually, it may be pitiful, but it’s right on. Any brand that wishes to improve its image has to acknowledge what the current perception is. Especially one like Mississippi, which is the butt of so many jokes.
The Cirlot Agency of Jackson created the campaign. You can view all the ads at MississippiBelieveIt.com.
UPDATE: At Brand Architect, Patrick Collings takes a look at all of the Mississippi ads and says that one ad’s claim that Mississippi doctors performed the first-ever heart transplant isn’t true. “Believe It!” or not, I suppose.
