As far as tourism slogans go, most cities have fairly tame, yet completely forgettable tourism campaigns. New York City’s current slogan is the punny “Discover True York” while Tokyo changed its tagline to the baffling “Tokyo Tokyo Old Meets New” in 2018.
Since Lithuania’s capital doesn’t have the same name recognition power as those other destinations do, Go Vilnius launched a cheeky new tourism campaign to capitalize on the fact that many people are unable to locate the city on a map.
In August 2018, Go Vilnius declared the city “The G-Spot of Europe”—“Nobody knows where it is but when you find it—it’s amazing.”
The official tourism slogan of Vilnius right now. Yes, really.
Courtesy of Go Vilnius
The accompanying commercial is just as raunchy, but is also completely hilarious.
However, not everyone thinks this new campaign is funny, especially in light of Pope Francis’s visit to Lithuania in September. The Archbishop of Vilnius, Gintaras Grusas, told News.com.au that he thinks the campaign, “potentially strengthens the image of Vilnius as a sex tourism city and exploits the sexuality of women.”
But John Oliver pointed out on a soon-after episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight just how effective the campaign actually is, saying, “Do you think we were gonna spend time talking about Lithuania tonight if they hadn’t done this? Of course not.”
Oliver continued his segment by making up a few other sexually explicit tourism slogans for other destinations including San Francisco, Olso, and the North Pole. Watch the entire clip below and just try not to laugh. We dare you. (Unless you’re easily offended. In that case, skip the video and click the link below.)
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