No, the Citizen isn't buying Hell Yeah Prince George

Also, crows will not be paid $250,000 a year to inspect potholes, but that's a little more obvious

Many (12) years ago, there was a lottery in the United States called the Powerball whose jackpot had reached $587.5 million. This garnered a lot of media attention. It also was the subject of several hoaxes, in which people would post a photo of themselves holding up a fake powerball receipt and a message claiming they had won the PowerBall and would be giving money away to people who commented/shared. Seeing so many of these go across my Facebook feed, I thought it would be funny to make what I thought would be an obvious fake version — I used Microsoft Paint to I thought very obviously doctor up a photo of me holding two PowerBall tickets taken from the scams, making no effort to have the hand position or skin tone in any way match my own and not even removing the background from the bottom quarter of the page. I cut and paste several statuses together and posted it, basically thinking it would be a funny joke for a few of my Facebook friends because it was that era of the internet where you made jokes about popular Facebook things.

Within hours, the post had more than 200 shares, friend requests and messages from strangers around the world asking me if I could please share some of my fortune with them. I very quickly augmented the post to indicate it was fake and apologized and learned a lesson I have never forgotten — even if you think the fact you are joking is incredibly obvious, on the internet there is always someone who will believe it.

Which brings me to the top story on the Prince George Citizen website this weekend:

First off, to be clear: This did not happen. There are a few context clues, like the fact it was posted on April 1 and the fact the notion that posting to the page was now going to cost $10. But overall, it was a pretty straightforward post and, if you weren’t paying attention, utterly believable. Which many people did, based on some of the conversations I saw around it and which many people probably still do. Because even if you read the article all the way through, there is no indicator on it that it was a joke — no completely outlandish claim to give it away, no “Happy April Fool’s!” at the bottom. There is a followup article posted several hours later but the bad news is people who read one article don’t always read another. As I learned from my Powerball post, every single item you put out into the world exists in its own context — and it continues to live beyond the date of April 1. For years the most popular article on the Alaska Highway News was an April 1 story about a UFO being found at the Site C dam site, because people kept coming across it and sharing it on days that were not April 1 anymore. This is a lesson that media brands have been learning over the course of the past decade or so, to the point there is a regularly-shared post about it from 2021 with a few rules about April Fool’s pranks online:

1. Don’t do an April Fools’ joke. Put the time and energy into doing something productive that will materially benefit the world (or, less idealistically, your business) instead. Or just don’t do anything. Abstaining entirely would still be a net positive over the drain of resources and mental energy.

2. Do an April Fools’ “joke” but actually follow through on your stunt. This is arguably not a prank, since you’ve actually created a video game skin or a real product that people can buy — but it doesn’t really hurt anyone.

3. Do an April Fools’ joke but be extremely clear from the start that this is a dumb joke and you have no intention of doing the thing that you are “humorously” pretending to do. Does this defeat the purpose of doing an April Fools’ joke because you’re not “fooling” anyone anymore? Absolutely. (Please see my first two points.)

4. Lie to your customers, successfully tricking them into believing you are making some product, rebranding, or service you are not. By doing so, you will almost certainly annoy everyone once your deceit is made plain for the extremely small gain of pointless PR. The aphorism goes that there is no such thing as bad publicity; the seemingly endless line of companies willing to make fools out of themselves has proven this false time and time again.

In the Citizen/Hell Yeah case, we are somewhere between 2 and 4. While they have tricked people into thinking HYPG is now a Stolz-owned product, there is a little bit of truth to it, which is that HYPG/the Citizen will be cross-promoting each other’s content. But I guarantee you there are now a non-zero sum number of people who think that Stolz now owns Hell Yeah Prince George and is charging money to post there.

The city, meanwhile, leaned a little more heavily into the third option which is making it clear this is a joke — it’s a much more outlandish premise, with wild numbers (a salary of $250,000 being paid to each individual bird), clearly fake names and a note of the date at the bottom. However, I am disappointed the underlying premise isn’t true because it would be amazing.

---

News roundup:

• A 17-year-old was killed and 3 other youths arrested on Thursday. Apparently, no charges have been laid at this point. PGSS sent a letter out to parents and guardians offering support.

• The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has posted a (lack of an) update on Dale Culver, a man killed by Prince George RCMP seven years ago who are facing charges but with very little in the way of actual court proceedings moving forward.

• I wrote about the thirty-year history of the Prince George Cougars and their historic season for CBC.

• I also took photos for this feature on the low water levels being seen at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako.

• Some concerning fires at encampments over the past several days — one in Mocassin Flats and another near University Way. Meanwhile, there’s an out-of-control wildfire in the Chetwynd region.

• Ludacris is coming to town. As I wrote when Ice Cube was announced, “We’ve entered the hip-hop nostalgia era of legacy tour acts.” This holds up: “We just need to remember it’s not that we’re getting newer acts, it’s that the newer acts got older."

• The Nature Trust of B.C. is in its final push to buy the Ferguson Lake wetlands.

• In non-April Fool’s posts, the city is going to start enforcing bear bylaws:

  

• The City of Prince George has spent roughly $4.5 million of the City’s snow control levy so far this year. The budget is $10.3 million.

• Hospice looking for community input in new survey.

• West Fraser will be sole owner of Cariboo Pulp and Paper after dissolving joint venture.

• The Prince George U-16 Kodiaks Red volleyball team are Western Canadian champions.

• A Prince George man has been sentenced for his role in creating and distributing child pornography, and sexual interference. 

• Miracle Theatre’s “A Comedy of Tenors” extended to Sunday.

• NorthBreast Passage Dragon Boat team starts season with a presentation.

• Masich Place Stadium, Carrie Jane Gray Park now open.

• PG company collects construction leadership award.

• New fuel truck on the way for YXS.

• Judo provincial championships coming to town.

• Plans are being made for the very partial solar eclipse happening next week.

Today’s song:

---

Northern Capital News is a free, daily newsletter about life in Prince George. Please consider subscribing or, if you have, sharing with someone else.

Send feedback by emailing northerncapitalnews@gmail.com. Find me online at akurjata.ca.