Alberta government 'screws up', advertises English beach in tourism campaign
A coworker of mine from Northumberland just sent this to me:
Quote:
A Northumberland beach has been mistakenly used in a promotional advert for a landlocked Canadian province.
The brief clip for Alberta, in Canada, shows a young boy and girl laughing as they run along a beach later confirmed to be either Bamburgh or Beadnell.
The Alberta government has issued an apology, saying it "screwed up".
The Canadian government said: "Northumberland, you are beautiful too."
I think this is hilarious. I had e-mailed a complaint to my MLA about what a waste of money this whole logo thing is and received the following form e-mail in response. I've pasted the whole message for context, but it's the bolded part that I think is a hoot.
Quote:
We have received your email stating several concerns you have. I will answer the Alberta Branding concern you mentioned and you should be hearing from Infrastructure and Health on the others.
The Government of Alberta is developing a new brand for our province – one that will be used not only by government, but also by Travel Alberta, universities, cities and other ambassadors to market our province across Canada and throughout the world.
The branding initiative has a projected budget of $25 million over three years. This includes research and development of the brand, promoting Alberta at trade shows or conferences in targeted markets; the 2010 Winter Olympics; and the development of promotional materials that government and others who are promoting the province can use.
The Alberta brand is much more than a slogan. It is the whole Alberta story, and how we share it with the rest of the world. The perceptions people have about Alberta are tremendously important, even when those people live and work far away from here. Their perceptions can influence our ability to export our products; sway decisions about investments; and affect our ability to attract visitors. Ultimately, perceptions can affect our pride as Albertans, and the role we play on the national and global stages.
That’s why we need to ensure that people’s perceptions about Alberta are based on the truth. We need to tell our own story, rather than relying on others to define who we are. And it’s a vital investment to ensure that our province remains competitive in the global market, and continues to be a place of opportunity, prosperity and pride for all Albertans, now and long into the future.
Thank you again for your note. I hope I have addressed your concerns.
Sincerely,
(prepared for)
Hon. Jack Hayden
Umm, ya ... "based on the truth" and "tell our own story", using photos that aren't photos of Alberta. Wouldn't that be based on a falsehood rather than the truth? And not rely on others to define who we are is best done by using a photo of a couple British kids? What a waste of oxygen these morons are. Sadly, they also waste tax dollars.
Edit: I received this form e-mail a day before the British photo thing hit the news.
Last edited by Ford Prefect; 04-24-2009 at 10:52 AM.
Other than make a little more publicity for Alberta over this, meh.
I dont know the exact figures, but the gov't spent ALOT of money on this advertising campaign...........they could atleast do a decent job wasting our tax dollars....
I dont know the exact figures, but the gov't spent ALOT of money on this advertising campaign...........they could atleast do a decent job wasting our tax dollars....
Mistake or not, if it brings more visitors to our province, it was hardly a waste.
And I love the little fact box comparing Alberta with Northumberland. We have calf roping, they have clog dancing. The rest of the world is going "WTF"?
I guess the Albertan annexation/conquering/occupation of NE England will be set back given this unfortunate intel slip...that picture was to be used post invasion to calm fears.
Call back the WEM submarines. Owen Hargreaves, your time as an undercover operative is done there too.
For a $25 million branding project you think they could have thrown some Neeper's way to get some true Alberta photos done.
I'm surprised they didn't just grab some from the photo competition threads.
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
The funny thing is, we'd have the same people griping if they had dropped a fortune for some production company to professionally film kids on an Alberta beach.
They actually went the cheap route buying this stock footage. It apparently bit 'em on the ass.
Alberta government 'screws up', advertises English beach in tourism campaign
