Giant ‘stuffies’ are part of a new R.I. tourism campaign. Locals aren’t the biggest fans.
“Cooler and warmer was better than this,” wrote one
Rhode Islander on social media. “I can’t believe we’re literally
distributing that disturbing thing.”
By Alexa Gagosz Globe Staff,Updated September 1, 2023, 3:39 p.m.
A giant stuffie part of Rhode Island's new tourism campaign. The stuffed clams will head to airports all over the country.R.I. Commerce/Rhode Island Commerce Corporatio
PROVIDENCE
— Rhode Island is known for a lot of things: spectacular beaches, the
Newport mansions, and a rich history of mobsters and corrupt
politicians. It was long hailed the Jewelry Capital of the World, and
its rebel patriots have been credited as the ones who actually started the American Revolution (sorry, not sorry Boston).
We’re also known for having an unbelievable dining scene. And so, the state decided to bring one of the Ocean State’s most iconic seafood dishes to life in its new tourism campaign.
Rhode
Island is deploying 250-pound “stuffie” installations around America.
But some Rhode Islanders on social media have not been too kind to the
idea of larger-than-life stuffed clams being the symbol for the state.
It “looks like a creature from Star Trek,” one person on Reddit wrote.
“Ugly, unappealing, not at all the Rhode Island I enjoy,” said Betsy Cazden.
Benjamin
Branchaud, a graphic designer in Warwick, said he was “all for keeping
tourists away from our beaches,” but using gigantic fake stuffies to do
it “might go too far.”
It’s not confiden-shell anymore – these stuffies are hitting the Rhode to promote the Ocean State. pic.twitter.com/De5BFUQqiG
The
styrofoam sculptures will be placed in “key flight market” airports,
starting Sept. 2, and will make the rounds to Detroit, Atlanta,
Baltimore, and Los Angeles through the end of 2023. The first stop is
the Michigan State Fair on Saturday. Governor Dan McKee said
he’s sending some “fresh” stuffies to Michigan Governor Gretchen
Whitmer’s office next week. (Neither he or his spokesperson have
responded to questions as to which restaurant the state ordered from).
According
to R.I. Commerce, the state’s economic development organization, these
oversized stuffies “will play a pivotal role in promoting tourism to
Rhode Island.”
It’s
true that clamming (or, in Rhode Island, “quahogging”) plays a big role
in the state. Rhode Island’s shellfishers are helping grow the state’s
$5 billion blue economy, and the baked bivalve is a signature state
dish. (The edible version is made of quahogs, parsley, and breadcrumbs.)
R.I. Commerce boasted
in their announcement Friday that the dish is unique, and “lesser
known.” But that might just be the problem. Will anyone outside of Rhode
Island even know what it is?
“Looks like a giant blob of moldy bread on a shell,” wrote Gayle L. Gifford on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The dozens of comments on Reddit were even more merciless. One user said it looked like a tumor. Someone said they’d “have a dermatologist look at this.”
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