BURSTA marketing video by Manning Park Resort has received tens of thousands of views and its fair share of criticism after some people said the images were tone deaf amidst a summer filled with drownings.
The video was originally published on Aug. 30 and depicts scenes of people appearing unconscious on trails and in water as they “absorb Manning Park’s healing frequency.”
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Manning Park Resort general manager Vern Schram said the video was born from a place of positivity and was never meant to reference the horrific drownings that have been on the rise in B.C.
“My marketing manager and I talked about some of these things in the past,” said Schram.
“She came up with this idea, and we talked about it, and we thought it’s fairly provocative, but let’s do it.”
He said this bold marketing approach is not a new concept for the resort, and it helped Manning Park draw in more than 1.4 million visitors last year.
“That gives you an idea of how many people want to come here and have a great experience,” said Schram.
“So we’re kind of tagging on a little bit of that thing. You guys are coming here for all these great therapeutic outdoor experiences, and that means so many different things to different people.”
The video accumulated more than 30,000 views within the first three days, and also attracted dozens of negative comments.
Many of these angry commenters pointed to the increase in accidental drownings in B.C. this year, which nearly doubled between May 1 and July 16.
This was followed by two drowning incidents in Cultus Lake in August, with the most recent one taking place just over a week before the Manning Park Resort video was posted.
“The Cultus Lake situation was never discussed,” said Schram.
“Should it have been? Possibly. But you know what? We are not trying to promote negative media or refer to negative situations. We’re trying to be positive.”
He explained that many of the viewers understood the video was coming from a positive place, with the resort receiving only a handful of negative calls.
“You’re seeing the couple of comments on Instagram, which are all centrally located from residents of Hope, but we’re getting so much positive feedback on this,” said Schram.
Another point of contention with the video was whether any taxpayer money was used in its production due to Hope, Cascades and Canyons being originally listed as a collaborator online.
However, AdvantageHOPE board chair Tannis Hendriks said this rumour was due to a simple misunderstanding.
“This video was created and funded entirely by Manning Park through their marketing agency,” said Hendriks.
“No taxpayer funding provided to AdvantageHOPE through the District of Hope nor any MRDT funding provided to us by Destination BC were used to create or promote this video.”
The only reason Hope, Cascades and Canyons was listed as a collaborator is because the organization frequently encourages other tourism groups to tag them in posts.
“We always strive to foster collaborative relationships with local businesses, accommodators, and tourism operators,” said Hendriks.
“Part of this initiative involves reposting and/or collaborating on their social media campaigns to bring them more exposure.”
However, once the public began voicing their concerns, the group removed the video from their pages.
The video remains available on the Manning Park Resort pages, and Schram said he hopes its virality will encourage more people to embrace the natural beauty of the park.
“There was never any malicious intent or reference to any corresponding incident,” he said.
“It was just about coming to Manning Park and experiencing and connecting to nature and getting lost in that environment and the positivity that it has on people.”