Minnesota tourism: Don't ask, do sell

Update: The ad turns out to be not so gay-vague as we thought. The partners actually are gay and married. Their 13-year-old daughter recently met with Minnesota's governor, who said this:

“Well, Minnesota is just a reflection of the world,” Gov. Dayton said, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I think it is really important for us to show that regular families — whether gay families or heterosexual families — represent Minnesota. We want to send a clear message to everyone, which we have done over and over again, that Minnesota is one of the friendliest states to the LGBT community and as a state we will protect everybody.”

The voiceover:

Plan nothing.
But prepare for anything.
Dare to try.
And laugh when you do.
Go from comfort zone...
to "well, this is a first."

AKSARBENT has also seen another Minnesota Tourism commercial filled with shirtless boy-next-door types, but those don't seem to be on YouTube yet. We'll keep looking, dear readers.



UPDATE: We found the other ad, "Buddies", actually from 2014, but still airing:



     Meanwhile, neighboring Wisconsin is airing this funny ad:

     Minnesota's Gov. Mark Dayton trashed Wisconsin tourism's effort calling it "one of the most idiotic ads I've ever seen in my life," and went on to joke that Minnesota should pay Wisconsin to keep the ads on the air.

"I'll write that on a piece of infrastructure and send it to Gov. Walker," Dayton said, a reference to the Wisconsin Republican governor's publicized act of minor vandalism against Minnesotans. In November, Walker wrote "Go Packers" on a piece of Wisconsin steel bound for the new Minnesota Vikings stadium.

Of course, Michigan, majestically above the fray of any snarky tit-for-tat, continues to run the classiest, most beautifully evocative tourism ads in its Pure Michigan campaign of any of the USA's most viciously homophobic northern states: