Experience Regina: City in Saskatchewan, Canada, apologises over sexualised tourism adverts

Experience Regina: The tourism body for the Canadian city said it 'went too far' with the slogan. Photo / Brett Mayson, Unsplash

“Show us your Regina” and “The city that rhymes with fun” are among the marketing slogans that have attracted the wrong kind of attention to a Canadian city and have led to an apology from the local tourism board.

The city of Regina, Saskatchewan, has long been the butt of blue humour in the Canadian Midwest. Last week, the tourism board was rebranded as Experience Regina seeking to exploit the unfortunate similarity to the word “vagina” and have fun with a cheeky marketing campaign.

It was originally “Tourism Regina” but changed after a spoof tourism jingle that was played on the Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show in 2018, to viral acclaim.

To announce the new brand the tourism board released a music video featuring the song and promoting the “Queen City”.

Locals were not amused.

“Show us your Regina. Really. That’s the best we can do, female anatomy humour to promote our city?” wrote one dissatisfied Saskatchewan.

Others felt that it was a sign the city’s ratepayers had been taken for a ride and had been “ripped off” by the lazy marketing.

“Our city tourism board is going to be focused on REAL events to the exclusion of everything else and the misogynistic tone is very much lacking in class. It’s not funny.”

On Monday local councillor Cheryl Stadnichuk said she was “disappointed and appalled” by the slogans being used.

“Do we want men harassing women in bars chanting ‘show us your Regina?’” she wrote on Facebook.

Kristen McLeod, a former Tourism Regina board member, told CNBC that she thought the misogynistic rebrand was a misstep, particularly given the high rates of domestic violence in the region.

This week the CEO of the newly named Experience Regina apologised to locals in an open letter saying that criticism was valid.

“We just went too far,” he told CBC on Monday.

“The city didn’t appreciate it and our community didn’t appreciate it and we just were wrong,” Tim Reid said.

The Experience Regina Song

The tourism board will keep its new name, although inappropriate slogans would be removed from future communications. Merchandise printed by clothing company 22 Fresh, featuring the words “rhymes with fun”, were removed from stores and the company said they would be recycled.

The name “Experience Regina” however is here to stay.

First appearing on a spoof 2008 youtube video by the account Tourist Board Sask, the song Experience Regina continues to put it on the map.

Nearly 15 years on, the video has generated more than 700,000 views and the controversial advertising campaign hundreds of comments from proud Saskatchewans.

The top-voted response remains:

“This advert was a perfect balance of what Regina offers. All the bells & whistles of what a bigger city offers but played in a flat key.”