February 03, 2005
McGuinty changes his mind - again
Newspapers, blogs and message boards have been abuzz over the McGuinty governments plans to rebrand Ontario. 
The government says the rebranding effort is required to increase tourism and investment in the province. One of the things they were planning on changing was the province's logo (right), but they appear to have backed down in the face of criticism from their chief cheerleader, the Toronto Star.
Premier Dalton McGuinty's people now say they never intended to get rid of the trillium logo, they intended to change Ontario's international marketing logo. This doesn't explain, however, why they didn't just say that when the rumours started swirling over the weekend.
My guess is they did pan on ditching the trillium but are getting cold feet in the face of criticism. That seems to be how they operate. As I have argued before, Mr. McGuinty governs by trial balloon and this one got no loft.
What really gets me is that the government that pleads poverty at every opportunity, but has managed to find the money to hire brand consultants, ad executives and who knows who else is also the government that promised not to hire any more consultants.
Hellooo? Toronto Star? Where is your righteous indignation about that?
Ah, the Ontario Liberals: A promise made, is a promise broken.
Further Reading:
Liberals plan to rebrand Ontari-ari-ari-o (Toronto Star)
Province may scrap trillium emblem/a> (Toronto Star)
Voices: Replacing the trillium (Toronto Star)
Editorial: Some brand-new ideas (Toronto Star)
Ontario's trillium won't be uprooted (Toronto Star)
trillium (marmalade.ca)
New Ontario Emblem (Tilting at Windmills)
Other Discussion (Technorati)
Posted by maxthecat at February 3, 2005 09:37 AM
http://www.maxsmewsings.com/mt/archives/2005/02/mcguinty_changes_his_mind_again.php