Rhode Island Tourism Video Shows Wrong Country

'Rhode Iceland' officials admit blunder
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 30, 2016 1:12 AM CDT
Rhode Island Tourism Video Shows Wrong Country
The Harpa isn't in Rhode Island, authorities were informed—it's in Reykjavik, Iceland.   (PRNewsFoto/Arctic Circle)

Maybe the state should be called Rhode Iceland. Rhode Island officials yanked a new tourism video, designed to draw visitors to the state, off YouTube in embarrassment on Tuesday after eagle-eyed viewers complained it showed a scene shot in Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, the AP reports. The state's economic development agency, the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, confirmed the goof and blamed an editing company. The state released the video at a meeting on Monday night and posted it online Tuesday for a new campaign. The video's intro features a skateboarder outside a glass building and has a narrator saying, "Imagine a place that feels like home but holds enough uniqueness that you're never bored."

People on social media noted it wasn't Rhode Island in the scene—it was the Harpa concert hall and conference center in Reykjavik. Early Tuesday, the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation's art director said he could "assure that all shots" were in Rhode Island. But a spokeswoman for the agency later confirmed that the building in the state's tourism ad was the Harpa and said an editing company used the wrong footage. "A mistake was made. Once the mistake was identified, the video was removed," the spokeswoman tells the AP. She says the video, which cost $22,000 to make, is being updated at no cost to the commerce firm or the state. (Last month, sharp-eyed viewers noticed that Marco Rubio had released a patriotic video with shots of Vancouver, Canada.)

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