Fishing lodge asks that you not give booze to the "Native Guides"

My Brother-In-Law, David Finkle, is a musician and traditional craftsperson here in Ottawa. He is also a part of Canada's First Nations communities. He sent me this bit of old-timey racism that is circulating from the guidebook of a Manitoba fishing lodge:

The backlash has been swift and severe.

Chief Arlen Dumas, of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation (the "Indian guides" referenced) told the CBC, “The statements are so outrageous. Not only does he offend the very people that provide him his livelihood … he insults all indigenous people in North America.”

Chief Dumas wrote an open letter to the owners of the lodge, which operates on traditional Mathias Colomb Cree territory. They have yet to respond.

Meanwhile the lodge's Facebook page has become the target of a massive (and justified) airing of grievances:

"Unbelievable that in this day and age there exists such ignorance and overt racism. I grew up in the times of 'no dogs or Indians allowed' signs and thought it was at least fading, but this shows that sadly, it is not," wrote Robin Maracle. 

"Bravo, you have completely alienated your workforce, your community and an entire nation," wrote Cynthia Mandeville. 

"The best thing to do would be to turn this into an opportunity to educate yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. The right thing to do is to apologize and move toward making things better," wrote Karen SC.

Many cited a post by âpihtawikosisân, a Montreal Métis blogger who addressed the "drunken Indian" stereotype and myths with stats and references. It's worth a read.

Las Vegas reaches out to straight tourists in gay ads

These ads for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority are aimed at the LGBT niche. As agency R&R Partners explains in their post on Ads of The World, "For too long, brands have told us they’re 'gay-friendly,' shown us a gratuitous same-sex couple, slapped a rainbow logo on it and called it a day." 

Instead, this campaign turns the situation around, claiming that Vegas is a destination "owned" by gay people.

If you really wanted to, you could complain that this campaign is guilty of "reverse-discrimination" with its stereotypes of awkward straight couples adrift in a sea of chic homosexuals. But I'm one of those awkward straights, and it doesn't bother me at all. When people have been put down for so long, they get a couple of free shots. (Or in this case, four.)

The Wagon Queen Family Truckster, however, is a low blow. 

The most confusing thing I have seen all week

Fortunately, it's only Monday morning.

It's an ambient idea from CP+B Canada, for Tourism Toronto. But what is it?

According to the submission on Ads of The World:

"In order to curate the vacation photos Toronto visitors take and put online, we unleashed 21, 8-foot snowmen designed by top contemporary artists and placed strategically at key tourist spots in the city. When you take a photo with the snowmen, a famous Toronto scene is featured as the backdrop. And to encourage the photos would be shared, Tourism Toronto is donating $2 to Starlight Children’s Foundation for every snowman photo uploaded to the campaign’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/visittoronto, up to $50,000. And, we’ve integrated each photo takers’ network, by offering another $1 for every ‘Like’ each photo generates, further expanding this campaign’s reach. To date, more than $24,000 has been raised."

I would like to point out that this submission comes from a country in which English is frequently spoken. "In order to curate"? Okay, that's just shitty jargon. But the rest of the write-up is similarly convoluted.

They set up giant snowmen in popular Toronto tourism photo op sites, then provided a fundraising incentive to share them on Tourism Toronto's Facebook page and get their friends involved. Was that so hard to say?

I am amazed that such a famous agency brand would leave the adblog PR to someone who don't write good.

But the most confusing thing about it all is this:

Why does the snow"man" have a vulva?

"Learn English Abroad" ads hit my communication sweet spot

I really like these Swiss learning travel ads in today's Ads of The World:

The copy reads, "Exciting conversations don't come out of your schoolbook.
Language courses abroad: www.smallworld.ch".

This struck me as such a perfectly true insight. So true, in fact, that there's no way it can't have been done many times before.

It also hits home. As an English Canadian of a certain age, I studied French as a mandatory school course from Grade 3 to Grade 10. Today, I cannot speak French to save my cul.

A few years later, I learned to speak Italian. Not grammatically perfect Italian, but enough to keep my culo out of trouble as I mingled with new friends in bars, clubs and parties — exactly the scenarios shown above.

And this is why I love the ads. Real language immersion is a full-contact cultural experience. You learn what you need to learn naturally, simply because you really want to communicate. And the payoffs, in lifelong beyond-tourism experiences, are immediate and more than worth the effort.

Cardboard Will and Kate, on an Ottawa date

When I made fun of this year's Outaouais tourism campaign, I may have spoken too soon. Apparently the weirdness has spread to my side of the river, in Ottawa:



This video, shared by Nick Iannitti on the Adrants FB page, anticipates the visit to Ottawa by royal newlyweds William and Kate this week for Canada Day.

Fairly harmless, really, until you look at where it's hosted: on the Ottawa Tourism YouTube account.

Yep, it's an official (or at least officially sanctioned) tourism video. Will it offend the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or perhaps the handful of old people in Canada who still view our Monarch's family with some sort of superhuman reverence?

Whatever. I like to see authorities break out a little bit. Besides which, the cutouts look like they had a much better time than the real Will & Kate can possibly have here.

F'd Ad Fridays: Sometimes, it's best to drop the tagline

Via Buzzfeed

What the Hull? Outaouais tourism campaign baffles Americans (and me too!)

Steve Hall at Adrants writes, "Ever heard of Outaouais? Neither have we. And we still don't know where it is after watching this odd tourism ad for the place. Apparently it's in Canada somewhere. Where trains are invisible, roads go to Barcelona, waterfalls aren't famous, video games were inspired and the three largest conifer trees grow. Or something like that."


Outaouais Tourism from Bleublancrouge on Vimeo.

Mon Dieu!  My poor neighbours across the river!

But Steve makes a good point. What the hell was the point of this video, by BBR? To get people talking about the Western Quebec? Mission accomplished... sort of. Well, actually not at all.

Meanwhile, the French language version is actually quite funny, as well as featuring recognizable views of Hull (now known as Gatineau):


Tourisme Outaouais from Bleublancrouge on Vimeo.

(Note to Americans: That's not really Big Ben. It's the Peace Tower, part of Canada's Parliament buildings across the river in Ottawa. Ottawa is the capital of Canada. Canada is the country north of Detroit, where your "girlfriend" you met at that thing,  who never returned your Facebook friend request, lives.)

I really don't get why the English campaign had to use such generic outdoor shots, instead of real landmarks. Were they afraid we Anglos would be pissed off about the Peace Tower joke? And if they really wanted to show the Outaouais that would be amusing to Ottawans, they might have at least shown underage boys drinking quarts of 50 at a raunchy "tactile" strip club and called it "the National Ballet"...

Good writing and talent. I just don't get how it's supposed to draw tourists.

There was a video from Regina...

A Facebook friend from Saskatchewan, artist Kate Hansen, shared this awkwardly funny spoof tourism video for the provincial capital of Regina.



I guess it just hit me the right way with its half-asleep, deadpan new wave jingle, the incorporation of real tourism information, and a series of images that actually portray the city positively as a sleepy, but genuinely friendly, place.

And then there's this handy rhyming subliminal mnemonic.

Experience Regina, indeed...