A former business instructor of mine at Ryerson University, Dr. Wallace Whistance-Smith (yes, we called him ‘Wally’), once told our class a story about a struggling supermarket chain hoping to turn its fortunes around. I won’t get all the details right, but paraphrasing the story should still make the point. It seems this chain, based somewhere in the U.S. — let’s call them Foodmart — was getting complaints about the quality of their meat and deli products. They had built up a very unfavourable reputation in that department and needed a solution.
What did they do? Instead of fixing the problems with the meat, they instead started an ad campaign using the slogan: “Foodville, People come here for the meat”.
Every time I hear about Hamilton’s “vision” to be the best place to raise a child I think back to that story and wonder if this is really becoming a terrible place to raise a child and all we’re doing is paying lip service and hoping people won’t notice.
It’s food for thought, but my advice is to avoid the meat.
