Wisconsin Tourism Federation changes name, acronym - for obvious reasons

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A Wisconsin tourism lobbying group is changing its name after realizing its initials formed a crude acronym.

The Wisconsin Tourism Federation group did a quiet rebranding in July, changing its name to the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin and updating its logo from WTF to TFW after it was featured on Web sites and blogs poking fun at it. It had no way of knowing 30 years ago that the letters would go on to take on a crude association.

Lead lobbyist for the group, Chet Gerlach, said Wednesday that the federation made the change after the meaning of the common text message lingo was brought to their attention.

FWIW (For what it's worth), officials say Wisconsin's tourism industry is a $13 billion business and grew 2.7 percent last year.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.