BC Business
A week earlier, some guy was ambushed outside his family compound. Lucky for him, the machine gun’s wall of fire somehow missed him. His Hummer took a few, though.
None of this is true, of course, but it makes for good stories that people in the outside world now tell about daily life in the Vancouver region.
It’s become our new image. The current street warfare between gangs with colourful but weird names has people all over Canada abuzz about how dangerous our previously envied region has become.
And this has spread outside the country. Various US news operations have carried this new view of Vancouver (Yeah, it’s awful. As compared to, say, Detroit?). The international press reached a fever pitch recently when a UK newspaper featured a lurid story about the issue.
Statistics might show that Vancouver region is as safe as it’s ever been, but who cares? Statistics are boring.
So, it’s obviously time for some some positive PR. Here are my suggestions for “good” messaging.
— Bullet casings on the sidewalk? Nah. They’re wayward pieces of brass left over from the trim we’re slapping on the sumptuous new Olympic venues. Honest.
— Those holes pockmarking the stucco of that monster home? Innovative termites that have developed a taste for cement.
— The body they found beside a car outside the convenience store? He was checking his oil filter when the car moved. Sideways.
You get the drift. It’s all about perception. We just have to counter this bad stuff with jolly messages and images of smiling, happy people. Without guns.
This is really Shangri La — a great, wonderful, loving place where there isn’t a problem to be found.