I Love New York is both a logo and a song that are the basis of an advertising campaign and have been used since the mid-1970s to promote tourism in New York City,[1] and later to promote New York State as well. The trademarked logo appears in souvenir shops and brochures throughout the state, some licensed, many not. The song is the state song of New York.
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The logo is a rebus that was created by Milton Glaser consists of the capital letter I, followed by a red heart symbol (♥), below which are the capital letters N and Y, set in a rounded slab serif typeface called American Typewriter.
In 1977, William S. Doyle, Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Commerce hired advertising agency Wells Rich Greene to develop a marketing campaign for New York State. Doyle also recruited Milton Glaser, a productive graphic designer to work on the campaign, and created the design based on Wells Rich Greene's advertising campaign. Glaser expected the campaign to last only a couple months and did the work pro bono. 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, New York.
The image became especially prominent following the September 11 terrorist attacks 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 Manhattan Island.
"I Love New York" was written and composed by Steve Karmen in 1977 as part of the advertising campaign. In 1980 Governor Hugh Carey declared it as New York State's anthem. 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.[2]
The logo has become a part of the American pop cultural canon, since inspiring countless knock-offs (t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc.) of the "I …" form. New York, in turn, has tried to uphold its trademark by filing a total of nearly 3,000 trademark objections against imitators[3]. Similar shirts can be found in Atlanta, Dallas, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mexico City/Distrito Federal, Argentina, and Copenhagen. In Beijing, China, tourists can buy I ♥ B-J shirts.
The logo has also been used by the band New Young Pony Club in their album sleeve for Fantastic Playroom but altered to read "I Love NYPC". Parodies of this phenomenon, such as "I Spayed My Pets" (using a ♠) or "I Club Seals" (using a ♣) have also appeared. A recently popular parody is a shirt reading I {have never been to} [in the shape of a heart] New York.[4] Expressions beginning with "I heart…", based on a literal reading of the logo, have become a somewhat facetious way to express one's affection for something (e.g., the film I Heart Huckabees).
Madonna recorded one song for her 2005 released album Confessions on a Dance Floor called "I Love New York". She also sang this song at her Confessions Tour with the popular I♥NY symbol clothing.
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/03/legendary_press_agent_bobby_za.html