OK, so over the last couple of weeks a series of billboards have gone up in Hamilton that read simply "Toronto Sucks" and nothing else. White font on black background. While I strongly disagree with the message they're sending, and don't want to encourage them by increasing the buzz beyond where it already is, I just have to say... what the fuck?!? Does anyone know anything about these?? There's a brief story on Canada.com (with video from Global/CH), but they don't have a clue either: http://www.canada.com/hamilton/soundoff/story.html?id=a...e5-887c-3dc805bc6e72

Anyone?

boo erns. :cry:

I agree... Toronto does suck... the Toronto Maple Leafs that is.

I don't get it.

Ugh. Still no news apparently. They should be down by Labour Day... but I mean... that's three days from now. I wonder what their point is. Grrrrr.

I just got back from a nice walk around downtown...

I'm not sure what stresses me more... the amount of times I got asked for money, the lady applying deodorant in the mall, or the fact that it turns out Y108 is responsible for the Toronto Sucks campaign.

[img:46c35930b9]http://nealj_3.tripod.com/y108sucks.jpg[/img:46c35930b9]

this is a picture of the billboards as they look now... I was hoping to get one of them before, but it's too late. (The thing across the "toronto sucks" part says "Censored")

I'm incredibly offended that Y108 is behind this really pathetic marketing campaign. What's worse is that Corus Entertainment, who owns Y108, has a multitude of stations in Toronto. It's not like a real local station is trying to build a sense of community by targeting another local one -- this is a conglomerate that is somehow hoping to improve its ratings by creating division amongst the communities of Southern Ontario. I am really very upset by this and I hope that everyone in Toronto who is bothered by the fact that Corus Entertainment posted billboards across Hamilton advocating that "Toronto Sucks," as well as employing young people to stage a mock protest with the same message, takes the time to learn which stations are owned by Corus and stop listening to them immediately. We need to stand up to these organizations that (Similar to Nike's RunTO ads) attempt to create a buzz using divionist tactics by segregating people and pitting them against one another based on geography. Not only is it childish, but it's exploitive. Corus Entertainment - owned stations around this area are as follows... boycott them!!

Toronto:

102.1 The Edge
Q107
640 MOJO Radio

Hamilton:

Y108
Country 95.3 (formerly Energy)
CHML AM 900

London:

FM96
103.1 Fresh FM (formerly Energy)
103.9 The Hawk
CFPL AM 980

Peterborough:

The Wolf 101.5
980 KRUZ

Barrie:

B101
The New CHAY 93.1 (Formerly Energy... notice a trend?)

Tri-Cities:

Dave 107.5 FM
1460 CJOY
Magic 106.1

is it about pitting communities against one another or just sly advertising techniques? I would have never known this radio station existed until you gave them free advertisement on this message board. Maybe its not positive advertisement, but I bet people will check them out in mere curiosity.

Its quite clever. I am teaching marketing techniques in my Entrepreneurship class... I should bring this up... :wink:

Sly implies intelligence with only a slightly negative implication. I would prefer a much harsher word. Cunning perhaps.

And to be honest, Y108 isn't a very good station to begin with... I never listened before and won't listen now. Most people in the Hamilton area (which is where the billboards were posted) either like it and listen to it, or don't like it and don't listen to it... not many of us are unaware of its existence, it is a fairly well-known station. If they were targeting McMaster students arriving for the new semester, they should've waited a week or two -- they've exposed their identity three days before most of them arrive.

And pitting communities against one another? I think that's the goal. Or, at least, the implication. I mean they had fake protestors denouncing Toronto for crying out loud. Not many people will buy it, I would hope, but for those who are less critical of the media I imagine many people would jump on the bandwagon. This is actually quite comparable to Nike's RunTO campaign (which was probably far worse) which literally used taunting campaigns to pretend that one neighbourhood was launching insults at another. Do I think everyone believes it, or takes it at face value? No. Do I think that enough people will buy it or imitate it so that a bandwagon effect starts? of course.

I never quite got why communities (and people in general) had to be rivals. It's kind of stupid, all it does is show that people are ignorant and that they don't think outside their little box.

I could give you the whole Human Relations 101 reason for why people need segregation...

but basically, the idea is that we need to feel inclusion and belonging... we feel too anonymous and unidentifiable the larger our "ingroup" gets... so we need to segregate ourselves into smaller, more unique units that satisfy this need for meaningful community.

By having an "outgroup" we get a sense of pride in ourselves and our community (our ingroup) becomes intrinsically valuable to our lives. To increase our sense of value in that group and to display our group membership/loyalty, we do things like compete with outgroups to prove we are "better" than they are... which is the part neal is objecting to, I am sure.

As beautiful as it is, the idea of a one-world community, it�s not really realistic or practical. people are always going to find ways to create a niche... a group of similar people that are separate from others.

I mean... that is essentially what WE have done... just looking at comments about other musicians like (ahem...) Kalan Porter or Britney Spears... we increase our sense of uniqueness to our group and prove our group membership when we say/agree with statements like "Sarah Slean is one of Canada�s best musicians" or "Kalan Porter is [i:f66b08f55a]not[/i:f66b08f55a] one of Canada�s best musicians."

~nicole g

A very thoughtful, incisive and articulate assessment of the phenomenon nik.

Of course, Toronto still sux :wink:


...jim

LOL. quite the academic analysis. I would disagree, however, that we collectively do that. We do discuss those artists (Britney, Kalan), but I don't think that we bond together as a community against those artists. A number of people on here have expressed their affection for Kalan's music and I myself, among a couple of others, will proudly admit my amiation (is that a word?) for Britney.

just my two shekels.

i'm not a huge kalan fan, but he's a fine vocalist and talented violinist, and he's also quite proficient on the piano. apparently his band was quite respected on the indie circuit in alberta and he was taken very seriously as a musician. i think he's been unfairly slammed because he happened to gain his fame on a show that for the most part features people considerably less talented than he, but i don't blame him for auditioning - how many musical opportunities are there really in moose jaw???

anyway, as part of the Idol deal he was obligated to perform lame tunes picked by the record company affiliated with the show. i don't even think that he likes those songs and i'm pretty sure he views this as a stepping stone to being able to eventually do his own thing and perform his own material with a larger fanbase. had his name recognition grown through playing small clubs, like it does for most indie artists, i think he'd be more respected instead of dissed at every turn.

I was actually talking about this last night, the thing with Idol is that it's almost better to get close to winning but not actually win.

Kalan does have a nice voice and can probably sing better than a lot of the other mainstream acts out there (ashlee simpson anyone?) but he's an Idol product, plain and simple. They tell him how to sing, what to sing, what to look like and that's who he is. It would have been interesting to see what kind of music he played with his band before Idol.

My guess it was just for the labour day showdown between Toronto Argos and the Hamilton Kitties.

I don't mind the move, atleast it tried something different.

Cameron Bay.

this is totally unrelated, but not really if you look at it in terms of possible advertising gone wrong.

i would assume (and i could be wrong) that the whole [i:c2cfea25c8]got milk?[/i:c2cfea25c8] campaign stretches into Canada--where famous people are photographed with milk mustaches. well, yesterday on sportscenter i saw their newest tv ad. it depicted a bunch of baseball players (fictional players, no one famous) and they were reciting lines used from the congressional hearing on steriods which took place in april or may here in the us. the point of view altered between the players, who said stuff like 'i didn't know what i put in my body, i just took it' or 'this stuff is amazing' to the manager who said, 'are you kidding me? like they don't know what they're putting in their body' at the very end of the commercial, which you don't see coming from a mile away, you see 'got milk?'

personally, i have the sense of humor where the 'got milk' and 'toronto sucks' type of ad makes me laugh. i'm off the [i:c2cfea25c8]why does everyone take everything so damn serious[/i:c2cfea25c8] mentality. if i was randomly driving along and i saw a 'toronto sucks' billboard i'd probably crash, i'd be laughing my ass off so hard. (you can insert any city name you want before the 'sucks' part.) but i mean, you gotta give these people in advertising a break. they're trying something new, something different. if it's all tounge in cheek, there's no harm, no foul.