There's lots of stereotypes about Mississippi, about how backward the state is, and how racist its residents are, etc, etc. In an effort to combat that, some new ads have been printed up. The campaign was designed by The Cirlot Agency, a well known advertising agency.
It all started when a Mississippi businessman sat next to a 12 year old boy from Connecticut on an airplane. During the flight, they began talking, and at one point the boy asked the MS man if he still saw the KKK on every street corner, and if he hated all black people. This conversation left the businessman rather stunned, and so he began trying to come up with a way to change the state's image.
Mississippi Believe It! is the result. The ads are rather well designed and you can access them here. I was going to print them on the blog, but they are all PDF files and haven't figured out how to do that yet. (If anyone more computer savvy than I knows how, I'd appreciate the advice.)
It's all well and good, but frankly, Mississippi has a few more important things to change before the state's image will improve. Mississippi ranks 50th in public education (pdf file), 51st in average income, and 1st in obesity. Until these things change Mississippi will continue to have the reputation of being a state full of overweight, poverty stricken, dumb country hicks.
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6 comments:
I was going to print them on the blog, but they are all PDF files and haven't figured out how to do that yet. (If anyone more computer savvy than I knows how, I'd appreciate the advice.)
Screen-shots (captures). That's the only way I know, but it works for me!
You're right about Mississippi's image. An ad campaign, while helpful, probably won't change many people's attitudes. My impression of MS is rather negative, and was forged (unfortunately) by my USAF experiences in Biloxi in '63 - '64, when segregation was alive and well. Subsequent TDYs back to Biloxi in the late '60s and '70s did precious little to change my initial impression(s).
Screen shots would probably work if I could figure out how to shrink the image so that it all fits on the screen. So far, the only thing I've found that works is to print out the ad then scan it. That's too much work.
My image of MS is pretty negative as well, and I've lived here the last 14 years. Moving here was like stepping back in time 30 or so years.
Oh, and segregation is still alive and well, in certain areas. I was stunned to find out that this town has a black swimming pool and a white swimming pool, a black baseball league and a white baseball league. But the soccer league is integrated, so I guess that's progress.
People in Questa, NM used to joke about the tourist who would drive in to NM from CO and ask where to change their money. In OK, people ask if there are still Indians there.
Screen shots would probably work if I could figure out how to shrink the image so that it all fits on the screen.
Adobe Reader has multiple options under "view" on the menu bar, including a "fit page." That might not help, though, if what you're viewing has lotsa detail that would be too small to read in a single page. I mostly use screen-shots for Powerpoint slides in a pdf. The fit is good, in that case.
Lou, when I went on a youth trip to Wisconsin with my church, the kids up there thought everyone lived on a ranch and owned oil wells, and we rode our horses into town and hitched them to the hitching rail in front of the bank.
Buck, I tried that, but it made the writing too small. Sorry, you'll just have to click the links to see them. They're kind of hokey anyway.
Lou, that should be they thought everyone in Texas lived on a ranch, etc...
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