“Iceland Thanks Rhode Island ” — RI Commerce’s Wadensten at Site Used in Infamous Tourism Ad

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“Iceland Thanks Rhode Island ” — RI Commerce’s Wadensten at Site Used in Infamous Tourism Ad

VIBCO CEO Karl Wadensten
Rhode Island Commerce board member and VIBCO CEO Karl Wadensten is currently in Iceland for a management conference — and took the opportunity to take a picture outside of the now infamous (well, in Rhode Island, at least) Harpa hall, which was erroneously shown as being part of Rhode Island in the “Cooler and Warmer” tourism debacle in 2016.

“I’m here presenting to industry in the Harpa and they are thanking Rhode Island for the boost in tourism,” said Wadensten.

“And they understand mistakes happen, but this one helped them garner national and global news to raise awareness about Iceland — population of 350,000 and proud of their building culture,” he added.

As GoLocal reported in 2016:

The new "We Are Rhode Island" tourism video was released by the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation YouTube channel on Tuesday morning -- but was taken down Tuesday afternoon. 

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The spot is just under two minutes, and features the new controversial tourism logo at the end -- without the "cooler" and "warmer" words flanking the image, as in the original iteration that was unveiled on Monday.  "Some people say that we're small, but they're not really looking -- we're an ocean of potential," says the narrator. 

The video, which was seen by thousands of viewers on Tuesday, contained footage of a skateboarder along a pier, next to a building -- that did not appear to be in Rhode Island, but rather the Harpa Concert Hall in Iceland. 

GoLocal was able to secure the original video after it was taken down.
 
 

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