"Virginia is for Lovers" is the tourism and travel slogan of the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Used since 1969, it has become a well-recognized and often imitated part of American jargon. In 2012, Advertising Age magazine called "Virginia is for Lovers" "one of the most iconic ad campaigns in the past 50 years."
History
A team led by David N. Martin and George Woltz of Martin and Woltz Inc. of Richmond, Virginia created the slogan after winning the Virginia State Travel account in 1968. Originally, they had come up with history ads, "Virginia is for History Lovers"; beach ads, "Virginia is for Beach Lovers"; and mountain ads, "Virginia is for Mountain Lovers". This approach was eventually discarded as too limiting, and the qualifiers were dropped. Martin and Woltz Inc. eventually gained prominence and grew to become The Martin Agency. The Martin Agency says that, contrary to some claims, the slogan is not a reference to the United States Supreme Court's 1967 ruling in Loving v. Virginia, which legalized interracial marriage in the United States.
In 1969, the Virginia State...
Lyle Solla-Yates
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