“Minnesota Not Nice” campaign
From their ad:
Many Minnesotans are afflicted with the genetic defect known as Minnesota Nice, and it takes valiant effort by the not so nice Minnesotans to bring them back to reality.
I like the image. Kinda Trogdor-esque.
Electro Rock Said,
May 27, 2005 @ 1:02 pm
I have this t-shirt – it’s actually the image used for the City Pages, a local weekly newspaper of the Village Voice, Phoenix vein.
As for Minnesota Nice, it really is a strange thing. It’s hard to define, but it plays out like someone being nice on the surface, but not caring much about you beyond that. It’s not being nasty, it’s just a lack of interest. Wish I could come up with a good example on the fly…wait, here’s one. I was at an ice cream shop waiting to buy a cone, and I was deciding what to get. This lady was behind me, and I said, “I’m still thinking, go ahead of me.” She smiled, didn’t thank me, and then proceeded to call over her 3 kids and husband to the line. Then they sampled about 8 flavors each before I could get to my fricking vanilla cone.
This contrasts with Boston or New York where those people would have just cut me, I suppose.
bluegrass girl Said,
May 31, 2005 @ 11:28 am
To me, it’s the way that all the blond people there are unfailingly polite without exhibiting any warmth at all. It always seemed to me that “Minnesota Nice” meant passive-aggressively demonstrating that you could behave more appropriately than everyone else, not because you wanted other people to feel comfortable, but because you want to exhibit restraint and adherence to faux kind rules.