First, a warning: Some people REALLY hate the new state slogan.

These same people, it quickly becomes clear, also harbor deep resentments about the fact the Board of Education a few years back put Kansas on the map as a state that doubted the truth of evolution, the Legislature is considering a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and their blue-state values are at odds with those of most of the folks in this passionately red state.

So when we asked readers a couple of weeks ago to tell us what they thought of “Kansas: As big as you think” — the new $1.7 million image campaign designed to lure tourists to the Sunflower State — we got some pretty fervid responses.

Lawrence resident Bruce Springsteen offered — perhaps with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek — the following options:

• Kansas: Bigger than a bread box.
• Kansas: Created in six days.
• Kansas: As bigoted as you think.
• Kansas: A division of Wal-Mart.
• Kansas: Don’t ask, don’t tell.
• Kansas: Where education is a slogan.

On the Street: What do you think of our new state slogan, “Kansas: As big as you think”?

• Kansas: Almost a rectangle.
• Kansas: Somewhere under the rainbow.

“I hope one of these might address your needs, and, if adopted, any of them will surely bring business streaming into our (just) fair state,” he added. “When may I expect my $1.7 million consulting fee?”

Others among you were more forgiving.

Glenna Premer said she believed the intentions for the new state slogan were honorable.

“However, may I very politely say that, in my opinion, the concept is extremely broad-based and doesn’t target a viable marketing theme,” she continued.

A more focused choice, she said, might have been the phrase “Ahh…mazingly Kansas” followed by any number of internationally recognizable icons representing things like parks and wildlife, commerce and industry, tourism, education, arts and culture, and family. She added the tagline: “Dreams really do come true.”

“I believe this would invoke a thought process for the viewer/reader of the slogan that should provide a personal memory card for their present or future plans,” she said.

Some of you didn’t have any alternatives to offer but reserved your right to critique the slogan nonetheless.

“If you look at the current forces in our state (mostly political, some cultural), there are people who want to put boundaries on the way people think and live in Kansas,” said Lawrence resident Andrea Zuercher. “Take, for example, the marriage amendment (which would put discriminatory language into our state’s constitution for the first time), or the attempts to stifle scientific thought (evolution) in our science teaching by the state Board of Education. Where’s the ‘bigness’ in that kind of thinking?

“You can put any kind of slogan on anything, but at the end of the day, we are what we are, not what some marketing firm wants to call us.”

With that in mind, we offer you the rest of the submissions we received. Some are spiteful. Some are optimistic. But they all come from Kansans who feel passionately about the place they call home.

• “No place like it” or “It just feels like home” (anonymous)
• “Kansas: It’s where you oughta be!” (Richard W. Bennett, Lawrence)
• “Kansas: The world can still be flat if you want it to” and “Kansas: Better roads than Missouri” (Jeff Ridgway, Lawrence)
• “Kansas: Kan you handle it?” (Adam Whelan, Lawrence)
• “Kansas: Painted with a broader pallet” and “Kansas: Prairie paradise, surprising cities” (Ed)
• “Kansas: We take the plain out of plains” (Joseph Rothschild, 10, Topeka)

On a final note, Lawrence resident Pete Anderson, a former travel and tourism industry employee, bravely came out in support of the new slogan.

“It brings to my mind things like our historic frontier forts, the majesty of the Flint Hills, where you can still hear a meadowlark and the sound of the wind in the grasses,” he said. “How about great food and friendly people, wonderful festivals across the state. And, think of our universities, our parks and lakes.

“We ARE big. We need to let everyone know about Kansas.”