Hyperbole Triumphant--O.C.’s New Slogan

If the Orange County Tourism Council has its way, vacationers will soon refer to the home of Disneyland and Surf City by the new slogan, “The Perfect California.”

That phrase, along with an aqua logo featuring a wave, a palm tree and the sun, was unveiled last month as part of the council’s latest campaign to lure more tourists.

The bold slogan is in keeping with the glowing descriptions that boosters have always used to portray the county, most notably in the stylized landscapes that graced citrus box labels.

For generations, the labels promoted both local growers and the county, portraying perfect oranges amid sun-swept local vistas.

“You looked at those labels and what you saw was paradise,” said Judy Liebeck, an Orange County historian and author of the book “Irvine.”

“The packing labels were also tourist slogans,” she said. “The emphasis was always on the perfect orange, the perfect climate, the perfect place. . . . You see a connection with what they are trying to do today.”

Liebeck and other history buffs question whether “The Perfect California” is too simplistic a description for Orange County in the 1990s--and whether it was ever accurate. They point out that pre-World War II promotions hyped the gorgeous mountains and beaches but failed to mention chronic flooding and a volatile economy.

“This is the kind of place that can appear so lovely,” said Anita Johnson, a 40-year Anaheim resident and citrus label collector. “But it can also be a hard climate. You don’t see that in the advertising.”

Hyperbole has been the style for promoting Orange County for more than a century, though, dating back to the 1800s when the area was a popular tourist destination for Easterners lured by health resorts, beach clubs and hot springs.

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In those days, Fairview Hot Springs in Costa Mesa touted its “healing” mineral baths, while one weight-loss farm in the hills above Newport Beach was known as “Anti-Fat Canyon.”

An 1888 ad for Orange described the city as “paradise for homes” and as having “the finest climate in California.”

Later, the colorful citrus labels that were a common sight at grocery stores in the 1950s conveyed a similar image.

The citrus industry and civic boosters turned to top California Impressionist painters to create the labels, which measured only about a foot square but were so eye-catching that they have become collectors’ items.

The growers also selected idyllic, sometimes mythical names for their fruit brands: “Velvet,” “Satin,” “Radiant,” “Marvel,” “Zeus” and “Miracle.” Some of the labels portrayed dramatic landscapes, such as the rocky coast of Three Arches Bay and the old mission at San Juan Capistrano.

“They ended up being like travel posters in a sense,” said Gordon T. McClelland, author of the book “California Fruit Box Labels.” The artists “might move the snow-capped mountains, stick the mission in there, get a great view of the orange groves and stick Saddleback Peak in the background. They took individual elements of the county and combined them.”

“Miracle” brand labels, for example, showed a genie holding a tray of ripe oranges. Rows of groves and purple foothills were in the background. “Three Arches” brand displayed the rocky South County coastline.

McClelland said the labels were “one of the few direct ways people around the country saw the county,” McClelland said. “People referred to what they saw, that Orange County was a desirable area that produced exceptional fruit.”

The new logo has a more contemporary look, with its stylized landscape and “Orange County: The Perfect California” in a modern typeface.

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Still, some tourism experts said the ad campaign might borrow too much from the past.

Lynne Sorensen, a professor of tourism at Canada College in Redwood City, said tourists are less swayed today than in the past by pronouncements like “The Perfect California” and are demanding more specific reasons to visit a destination.

“Don’t just talk about the beaches,” she said. “Talk about the tide pools you could see, or the bird migrations and walking trails.”

“You need to do more than just talk about the scenery. . . . The public’s attitude is ‘been there, done that.’

“People want to know what specific activities there are.”