More than a week after being called out over a controversial new tourism ad, Destination St. John’s has decided to stop running it.
“We are sorry. We need to do better. And we will do better.” Those are the final lines of a Facebook post by Destination St. John’s over the weekend.
The apology appeared Saturday morning and admits it was a mistake to greenlight their ad campaign despite a glaring lack of diversity.
We recently made a mistake when we released a promotional video that did not include representation from racialized,…
Posted by Destination St. John's on Saturday, April 17, 2021
CEO Cathy Duke previously said scheduling and weather prevented diverse individuals from being in the final product, adding they were in both a money and time crunch for filming. Duke declined an interview yesterday, only to say their focus now is moving forward with the commitments made in their apology.
Saturday morning’s post said the ad would immediately be removed from its online and social media channels—that’s more than a week after concerns were first raised by local anti-racism groups. Asked why she would not offer a verbal apology or comment, Duke said the statement on Facebook reflects how they’re addressing the matter.
"Racialized folks are not only background characters, we are protagonists of stories too."The recent ad campaign of…
Posted by Santiago Guzmán on Tuesday, April 13, 2021
