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If you believe that there’s no such thing as bad press, you’d have to conclude that Tourisme Montréal’s latest video is ringing success.

The three minute cheese-fest — a love song that invites Quebecers to come to Montreal without ever mentioning the city’s name — was excerpted during Saturday night’s broadcast of La Fureur. The full schmaltz spectacular was uploaded to YouTube.

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It definitely got people talking. Admittedly, much of the talk was about the video’s studied sappiness, dated hipster aesthetic, and elision of the city’s name.

The list of tourism videos featuring more key changes than references to the city being promoted is presumably a short one. (The score is 1-0, if you’re keeping track at home.)

But is that a bad thing?

Mayor Valérie Plante told reporters on Monday that she was a little surprised when she first saw the ad on La Fureur but she found it interesting.

“I totally trust Tourisme Montréal with doing ads that people will talk about,” she said, “and definitely that’s the case, that people are talking about that ad.”

The cost of this campaign is reportedly between $350,000 and $400,000. Funding from the city accounts for about 9 per cent of the Tourisme Montréal’s budget.