It’s the exact opposite of the message they’ve been trying to send.
District of North Vancouver officials were dismayed this week to see a local lifestyle blog tacitly endorse cliff jumping in Lynn Canyon.
District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services members have been called out for canyon rescues more than 70 times this year. In March, Coquitlam teen Cole Marsh drowned when he slipped under the water and could not surface.
But the local blog, VIVA Lifestyle & Travel named Lynn Canyon as one of its Top 6 swimming holes in Metro Vancouver, in part, because of the cliff jumping that’s done there.
“It’s easy to see why Lynn Canyon is a popular destination for Vancouverites to escape the busy city when in search of a gorgeous spot to splash in a natural pool. The area at the top of the trail is a popular cliff diving venue in the summer with great heights for a fun free-fall,” wrote blogger Catríona Hughes.
The district emailed the Viva’s publisher on Tuesday.
“We’ve asked them to either remove Lynn Canyon or revise it so that it doesn’t encourage people to go cliff jumping. I shared with them some of our concerns. It’s an extremely dangerous thing to be doing,” said Stephanie Smiley, district spokeswoman. “We’re working really hard to make sure people are aware of how dangerous it is out there. Our focus is to make sure that visitors to the park are aware of that. . . . We want them to enjoy it, but we want them to enjoy it safely.”
The blog’s editor responded to the district mid-day Thursday to apologize. The offending sentence about cliff jumping has been removed. Attempts by North Shore News to contact Viva went unanswered.
The police too were frustrated with the counterproductive message.
“This is still an outdoor environment. It’s not a swimming pool. There’s no lifeguards on duty, there’s no diving boards. It’s really a risky behaviour where nothing is guaranteed to turn out the way you think it will,” said Cpl. Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman.
Earlier this year, the district launched a new awareness campaign and installed warning signs targeting Millennials by using language they’re most used to seeing on social media. Increased visits and injuries in district parks are attributed to word spreading about them online.
The Vancouver-based Viva appears to be targeting the same demographic, according to Capilano University marketing instructor Mary Charleson.
Lifestyle blogs, like Viva, are typically marketing tools that use their reach on social media to glean information about their readers’ habits, which can then be used to tailor advertising to them, Charleson said.
Earlier this year, Molson Coors Canada and their ad agency Rethink Canada also stepped in it when the company ran a TV ad campaign encouraging skiers and snowboarders to go out of bounds, contrary to safety messages from North Shore Rescue. Coors later edited the offending ad and promised to donate to the B.C. Search and Rescue Association.
