By Stephen McDougall

Asbestos - A municipal councillor who is trying to promote tourism for the town of Asbestos has called attempts by an Australian reality show to come up with promotional advertisements for the town “ridiculous” and “an insult” and has vowed to ignore them and the producers of the show.

“It is unfortunate because we are proud of our town and producers of shows like these do not understand that,” said Alain Roy last Friday.
“It is obviously a satire on us and it is insulting. We do not want any part in this.”
The reality show, called “The Gruen Transfer” is produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and challenges advertising executives to promote difficult products on television. Two executives took up the challenge and came up with video ads for the town that have been labelled as “spoofs” in media reports listed on the internet.
In one ad, a speed dating session shows men tagged as coming from popular worldly urban centers such as New York and London courting women. Suddenly, a poorly dressed man with the tag of Asbestos shows up and sits down with a woman. She is horrified by the tag and immediately dons a gas mask. The ad reads “We don’t have an attractive name, so spend time online with us first.”
A second ad compares the town’s name with that of unusual municipal monikors such as Dildo, N.L., Accident, M.D. or Boring, Oregon.
“Bad name, great destination,” claims the ad.
The show’s producers argue the ads are tongue-in-cheek and originated from an interview Roy had with the London Guardian two months ago to promote tourism for the town.
“It’s all done in good fun,” argued show official Peter Richie.
But Roy was not amused by the outcome.
“It reminds me of a visit by an American travel journalist 11 years ago that also ridiculed us,” he said.
“She showed her hate for our town and what we produce and insulted us repeatedly in her article.”
The article was published by the Wall St. Journal in 1999 and depicted Asbestos as one of five least-desired tourist destinations in the world, along with the disputed Falkland Islands, war-torn Croatia and the country of Colombia, which was plagued for years by gang wars over cocaine production and smuggling.
At one point in her article, Journal staff writer Nancy Keates said local tourist officials were negligent by not providing a “moon suit” for her protection against chrysotile-asbestos fibers, then claimed a mine tour guide encouraged visitors to “sniff” the fibers. Both those claims were described by local tourists officials as exagerated and invented by Keates.
The town has been trying for several years to promote the local underused open pit Jeffrey mine as a “tourist playground” where thrill seakers can climb down and ride all-terrain vehicles in it.
“It is like a great big sand pit, a gigantic playground,” states local tourism official Marc Cantin in the Guardian article.
Roy is quoted in the article as stating “de la bullshit” in response to Guardian writer Lorraine Mallinder’s question about the fiber’s reputation as a carcinagin.
“We would be happy to welcome tourists to tell them the truth about who we are,” states Roy in the article.
The fiber, used in construction to inulate and reinforce buildings and solidify asphalt roads, has been linked since the 1970s to lung illnesses such as asbestosis and mesothelioma. But the Quebec and Canadian governments have backed the industry, arguing the chrysotile form of the fiber is safe for use if handled carefully.
That argument has been rejected by many environmentalists, unions and lawyers, who claim all forms of asbestos are egually dangerous and should be banned outright.
Some 800 workers produce the fiber in two mines in the E.T. towns of Asbestos and nearby Thetford Mines. The Jeffrey mine in Asbestos is hoping to get a $58 million loan guarantee from the Quebec government this summer so it can continue operations and employ more local workers.
But Roy and other local officials do not want to depend on the local mine for all its job creation.  
They are hoping to expand tourist potential by having Asbestos and the neighbouring town of Danville linked to a hiking trail leading to the U.S. border within the next three years.
But he argues satirical treatments by ABC television of his town will not help their efforts.
“We are proud of our mining heritage and we want to show the world we are not a dangerous place to live, but we won’t stand for being insulted. This is regretable and not something we want to encourage.” 

(2010-06-21)