I Love New York (stylized ) is a
slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political slogan, political, Advertising slogan, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the publi ...
, a
logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...
, and a
song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...
that are the basis of an advertising campaign developed by the marketing firm of Wells, Rich, Greene under the directorship of
Mary Wells Lawrence used since 1977 to promote
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
in the state of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, including
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The
trademarked logo, owned by the
New York State Department of Economic Development, appears in souvenir shops and brochures throughout the state, some licensed, many not.
"I Love New York" is the official state slogan of New York.
The logo was designed by graphic designer
Milton Glaser in 1976 in the back of a taxi and was drawn with red crayon on scrap paper. The original drawing is held in the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...
in Manhattan. The song was written by
Steve Karmen
Steve Karmen (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer, most famous for several jingles. Among his better known works are the New York State song, "I Love New York", the jingle Here Comes the King for Budweiser, the Hershey's chocolate jingl ...
and its copyright was donated by him to the state.
Logo
The logo consists of the capital letter ''
I'', followed by a red
heart symbol (
❤), below which are the capital letters ''
N'' and ''
Y'', set in the rounded
slab serif
In typography, a slab serif (also called ''mechanistic'', ''square serif'', ''antique'' or ''Egyptian'') typeface is a type of serif typeface characterized by thick, block-like serifs. Serif terminals may be either blunt and angular ( Rockwell), ...
typeface
A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font.
There are thousands o ...
American Typewriter.
[
In 1977, William S. Doyle, Deputy Commissioner of the ]New York State Department of Commerce
Empire State Development (ESD) is the umbrella organization for New York's two principal economic development public-benefit corporations, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the New York Job Development Authority (JDA). T ...
hired advertising agency Wells Rich Greene to develop a marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
campaign for New York State. Doyle also recruited Milton Glaser, a productive graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...
to work on the campaign and create a design based on Wells Rich Greene's advertising campaign. Glaser's initial sketch to accompany the agency's "I Love New York" slogan was conceived in a taxi. It comprised the letter I and a heart shape followed by NY, all on the same line. As the idea developed he decided to stack the I and heart shape on a line above the NY characters, later stating that he may have been "subliminally" influenced by Robert Indiana's ''LOVE
Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...
'' pop art image.
Glaser expected the campaign to last only a couple months and did the work pro bono
( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...
.[ The innovative pop-style icon became a major success and has continued to be sold for years. In the popular mind (though this was not the original intention) the logo has become closely associated with New York City, and the placement of the logo on plain white T-shirts readily sold in the city has widely circulated the appearance of the image, making it a commonly recognized symbol. Glaser's original concept sketch and presentation boards were donated by Doyle to the permanent collection of the ]Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...
, New York.
The image became especially prominent following the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
on the city, which created a sense of unity among the populace. Many visitors to the city following the attacks purchased and wore the shirts bearing the I Love New York logo as a sign of their support. Glaser created a modified version to commemorate the attacks, reading "I Love NY More Than Ever", with a little black spot on the heart symbolizing the World Trade Center site. The black spot approximates the site's location on lower Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
Island. The poster was printed in the New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...
and was a fundraiser for New York charities supporting those affected by the attacks. Added text at the bottom encouraged people to "Be generous. Your city needs you. This poster is not for sale."[
]
New York state anthem
"I Love New York" was written and composed by Steve Karmen
Steve Karmen (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer, most famous for several jingles. Among his better known works are the New York State song, "I Love New York", the jingle Here Comes the King for Budweiser, the Hershey's chocolate jingl ...
in 1977 as part of the advertising campaign. In 1980, Governor Hugh Carey declared it as New York's state anthem, although not officially enacted into law. In a move that was remarkable for Karmen, who is well known for retaining the publishing rights to his songs, he gave the rights to the song to the state for free.
Karmen wrote a new verse for the song in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City
The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City was confirmed on March 1, 2020, though later research showed that the novel coronavirus had been circulating in New York City since January, with cases of community transmission confirme ...
to emphasize the city's resilience. However, it was never commercially recorded nor used.
Imitations
The logo has become a pop-culture icon, inspiring imitations in every corner of the globe. Merchandise proclaiming "I ❤ ..." can be found wherever tourists gather. Parodies, such as "I ♠ My Pets" or "I ♣ Seals
Seals may refer to:
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
", have also appeared. Facetious expressions beginning "I heart…", are based on a literal reading of the logo (e.g., the 2004 Independent film '' I Heart Huckabees'' and the audio conglomerate iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
). NYS-licensed pin-back buttons with a red version of the Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...
logo replacing the heart (I NY) were distributed at the 2001 Macworld Expo in New York.
New York has repeatedly attempted to uphold its trademark; by 2005, the state had filed nearly 3,000 objections against imitators, and 100 "trademark objections and cease-and-desist letters" were filed in 2012 alone. Some objections have been ruled void, such as when a court concluded in 1980 that the producers of ''Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...
'' did not infringe on the copyrights of the “I Love New York” campaign with its “I Love Sodom
Sodom may refer to:
Places Historic
* Sodom and Gomorrah, cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis
United States
* Sodom, Kentucky, a ghost town
* Sodom, New York, a hamlet
* Sodom, Ohio, an unincorporated community
* Sodom, West Virginia, ...
” skit, ruling instead that it was a parody.
See also
* '' Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan''horror film criticized for using the "I Love New York" logo
* Heart in Oregon
* I Love L.A.
"I Love L.A." is a song by Randy Newman. It was originally released on his 1983 album '' Trouble in Paradise''. The song is about Los Angeles, California, and its hook is its title, repeated, each time followed by an enthusiastic crowd cheering, ...
* I Love New York 355 at The Glen
* Tourism in New York City
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
The History of New York's Marketing Campaigns, from the Gotham Gazette
The Museum of Modern Art Collection Browser
The Museum of Modern Art Collection Browser
{{List of U.S. state songs
1977 neologisms
American advertising slogans
American logos
Symbols of New York (state)
Songs about New York (state)
Tourism in New York (state)
Cultural history of New York City
Jingles
Symbols introduced in 1977
Tourism campaigns
1977 establishments in New York (state)
Heart symbols