The Franklin Institute is The Franklin Institute Once Again

By Joel Mathis
Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Jun. 12, 2009

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Remember that episode of The Simpsons where the makers of Itchy and Scratchy decided to freshen up their old cartoon by adding a hip new character, Pootchie the Dog? It didn't turn out so well.

We were reminded of that episode with this news today:

It doesn't take a brain surgeon, or even a scientist, to figure out why the Franklin Institute has dumped its trendy shortened name.

It's because "The Franklin," the name created last year in a marketing campaign for the 185-year-old museum, was confusing the public.

So, recently, the Franklin Institute "quietly reverted back" to its original name, spokeswoman Stefanie Santo told the Daily News yesterday.

"It's a beloved name, and we welcome it back," said Meryl Levitz, head of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp.

We don't envy the Franklin's -- erp, the Franklin Institute's identity crisis. But changing back to the long-revered name probably won't put an end to it. The place is supposed to be all about science and learning -- and today, Dan Denvir reports favorably on the new race and racism exhibit there -- but these days it's paying the freight by holding weddings on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Which is probably better than the Narnia exhibit that it hosted last year. And it's not like we don't understand that sometimes you do things for money so that you can do the things you love.

The problem is that sometimes the former can crowd out the latter in the public consciousness. If the public is confused about what's going on at the Franklin, its changing names might not be the reason why.

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