It seems that the Kaslo Chamber of Commerce has hired the ultimate celebrity endorsement: a Great Gray Owl has arrived to promote local businesses. It hardly gets any better than this. Yesterday, upon seeing this rare celebrity in town, Dirk Pidcock, an enthusiastic local fan exclaimed, “Indeed it is a very special day! … After years of longing and searching, … I see a Great Gray for the first time this morning….”
Pidcock’s pictures of this celebrity owl were posted yesterday. Today, I went to see it myself, and it quickly became clear that this celebrated owl was in full endorsement mode as it drew attention to local businesses.
I spotted the Great Gray promoting a business that I never did recognize. This is clearly the downside of going with a really big-name celebrity: the mere presence of the owl has eclipsed the endorsement it offers.
This was not the case when the Great Gray moved to endorsing the Kaslo Hotel; I have had a few meals there.
Alas, the mere presence of a Great Gray Owl in Kaslo outshone the businesses it (seemingly) promoted.
This is, after all, the celebrity owl.
What star power! And the remuneration? Just a few Kaslo voles…
Marie, I believe Great Gray charges businesses, but it works as a volenteer for the SS Moyie.
You have expressed the advertising and propaganda principle that in its ideal form, the message goes unnoticed and penetrates as a mainline or what in the sixties was called a subliminal.