After years of protest, Sioux City, Iowa, officials have accepted their unfortunate airport designation – SUX – and are printing the code on t-shirts and baseball caps as part of a promotional campaign.

Airport board member Dave Bernstein spearheaded the FLY SUX campaign, noting it had the potential to get people talking.

"I've got buddies that I went to college with in different cities that can't even remember their own birthdays, but they all know the Sioux City designator — SUX," he said.

In 1988, Sioux City officials petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration to change the airport code but rejected the options offered – GWU, GYO, GYT, GAY, and SGV. In 2002, officials made a second bid to change the name saying they were tired of being the punchline to a joke. The FAA rejected the 2002 request.

With files from the Associated Press