There鈥檚 no such thing as bad publicity, even when it involves Satan.
I鈥檝e never visited Courtenay on Vancouver Island, nor have I attended its Comox Valley Christmas Parade.
But the Dec. 1 event caught the attention of myself and many others due to an unfortunate typo in an ad in the Nov. 21 edition our sister newspaper, the Comox Valley Record.
Promoting the parade, the ad included 鈥淧ictures with Satan.鈥� The error went viral, with the Twitterati taking a sudden interest in Comox. Other news ages jumped on Beelzebub bandwagon even talk show host/comedian Seth Meyers was able milk the Mephistopheles mix-up for a monologue.
To their credit, the Record team owned the error, stating in an editorial, 鈥淲e often chuckle about the typos we have caught, breathing sighs of relief when the L in 鈥減ublic鈥� or the B in 鈥淗ornby鈥� is added by the last set of eyes before going to print鈥�
鈥淏ut when it happens in an ad, it becomes all that much more blatant. They are called 鈥榙isplay ads鈥� for a reason.
鈥淭hey are meant to stand out on the page. This one did that, for all the wrong reasons. On the bright side, everyone in the Comox Valley and beyond knows when the Courtenay Christmas parade is鈥︹��
Read more: Crude photos land Penticton鈥檚 Santa on the 鈥榥aughty list鈥�
Read more: Penticton residents, businesses embrace 鈥榥aughty鈥� Santa
Read more: VIDEO: Newspaper鈥檚 鈥楶hotos with Satan鈥� ad appears on late-night TV
We empathize with the Record and applaud their response.
While the mistake was clearly unintentional, one need only do a Google search for 鈥淐omox Satan鈥� to see the kind of traction the devilish little typo achieved.
Turning heads a week later was another news story involving Santa. Gary Haupt was terminated from a job as a Penticton mall Santa because of photos posted to his Facebook page.
The crude, if not offensive images show Haupt, dressed as Mr. Claus, engaged in a variety of naughty activities, including drinking from a flask and supposedly spanking a woman鈥檚 behind.
鈥淧art of this is my naivety because I thought this was really funny鈥�,鈥� said Haupt, upset by the mall鈥檚 response but pleased with the subsequent outpouring of support.
Making headlines across the province, Haupt鈥檚 Santa has since been booked for numerous appearances, including a pub, a cafe, the Elks Hall and an elementary school.
When it comes to publicity, it appears Sata鈥�, er, Santa can do no wrong.
@SalmonArm
newsroom@saobserver.net
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