With its complete lack of permanent glaciers, unpronounceable volcanoes and “Game of Thrones” filming locations, Rhode Island is hard to mistake for Iceland.
Which is why it was a surprise to see a shot of the Nordic nation appearing in a video promoting the U.S. state to tourists.
The video, released on an official website and social media, was part of a reported $5 million campaign built around a new state logo and slogan “cooler and warmer” (or “kaelir og hlyrra,” as they might say in Reykjavik).
It was hastily withdrawn after embarrassed officials were alerted to the inclusion of a scene shot in the Iceland capital.
But not before state governor, Gina Raimondo, had shared it on her Twitter account.
The 110-second video barely gets into its stride extoling the virtues of Rhode Island – with a shot of the Conimicut lighthouse and state capital Providence’s Union Station – before it abruptly jumps north.
‘Honest mistake’
“Imagine a place that feels like home, but holds enough uniqueness that you are never bored,” a narrator says, just as a skateboarder rolls past what appears to be Reykjavik’s Harpa concert hall.
The Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, which commissioned the video, described the Icelandic interlude as an “honest mistake.”
“As the Commerce Corporation put this presentation video together, explicit instructions were given to the local firm that helped with editing to only use Rhode Island footage,” Betsy Wall, the corporation’s chief marketing office, told the Providence Journal. “A mistake was made.”
The Journal said the video was the work of local advertising agency IndieWhip, which apologized for the error and promised to fix it without increasing its $20,000 production fee.
“The footage in question is of a Rhode Island skateboarder, filmed by a Rhode Islander skateboarder,” the ad agency said in statement reported by the Journal.