A so-so slogan. So Sri Lanka was launched in November 2018 as the slogan or tagline promoting Sri Lanka as a prime tourist destination.
It is bland and inoffensive enough to pass without comment or being noticed by anyone, except by those who are offended that it cost US$2 million to dream up. Those three words – So Sri Lanka must make writers vomit with envy as not even a bestselling author earns as much as US$666,666.66 a word.
OK, apparently that sum includes lots of marketing collateral and an image that looks like “O” and is supposed to bring to mind the shape and diversity of Sri Lanka.
But what of the impact of the slogan itself? One person involved in its creation bragged “That the brand went viral without a single marketing dollar spent on it to date is a testament to its incredible power.”
Is it? That’s like saying the slogan should be judged by the number of visitors commenting on social media about it, and not by the number of visitors to Sri Lanka that it generates.
Does the use of the glib and overworked word “so” — that seems to introduce every other sentence many English-speaking people utter — really promote or convey Sri Lanka?
The Sri Lanka Holiday Guru advises: “Come. Forget slogans. You’ll soon find the Sri Lanka you’ll love.”
Just so!
