People on social media said: Hey, that's not Rhode Island - that's the Harpa concert hall and conference centre in Reykjavik.
Designer Greg Nemes visited Iceland in October and said he recognised the photogenic building, which has a steel framework and an exterior skin of differently coloured glass panels.
"It was pretty unmistakable to me, so I did some digging around and posted on Facebook about it," he said.
Social media users agreed with him, posting side-by-side photos of the building in the Rhode Island ad and Harpa.
A Rhode Island Commerce Corporation spokeswoman, in confirming later Tuesday that the building in the state's tourism ad is Harpa, said an editing company used the wrong footage.
"As the Commerce Corporation put this presentation video together, explicit instructions were given to the local firm that helped with editing to use only Rhode Island footage," spokeswoman Kayla Rosen said. "A mistake was made. Once the mistake was identified, the video was removed."
She said the video, which cost US$22,000 ($31,730) to make, is being updated at no cost to the Commerce Corporation or the state.
- AAP