October 13, 2012 7:11am by David Farrar

The 10 worst city slogans

1. “Auckland A” was developed by the Saatchi & Saatchi advertising agency to rival “Absolutely Positively Wellington.” It was dumped in 2008 in favour of “Big Little City”.

2. “Of course you Canterbury”. The 90s slogan was ditched long ago but it made a comeback recently as the catchcry for the earthquake-devastated city.

3. “Dunedin, it’s all right here”. Letter writers said this gave the impression “It’s OK here, I guess.” The city re-branded as “I am Dunedin”, but many called the slogan stupid and, in 2010, it was also dumped.

4. Hamilton had several goes at it. There was “Hamilton, where it’s happening”, “Hamilton, more than you expect’, and “Hamilton, City of the Future”.

5. “Foxton the Fox Town”. Eventually the town stopped seeing the the funny side of its foxy monniker and in 2005 took down the welcome sign bearing the slogan.

6. Wairoa: “New Zealand the way it used to be”. Seriously, everything closes at 4pm in Wairoa.

7 Dannevirke: “Take a liking to a Viking”. The slogan was criticised by some of the town’s councillors as too being raunchy.

8. Ashburton: “Whatever it Takes” … to do what, you might ask?

9. Porirua: “P-town”. Porirua unveiled an image makeover earlier this year, with mayor Nick Leggett saying ‘Lets call us ‘P-Town’. Let’s just say, not Porirua’s proudest moment.

10. “Right Up My Hutt Valley”. Need we say more?