Call it a week of mixed reviews. Even as Toronto endured jabs from a Niagara Parks Commission advertising campaign — portraying the city as rife with vandalism, noise and stress — it was hailed as “the new capital of cool” by a prominent U.S. website last week.
An article in The Huffington Post praised Canada's largest city for its multiculturalism, splendid outdoor festivals, gourmet food, and thriving arts and music scenes. “Toronto is the hot new destination for all things crazy, sexy, cool,” it concluded.
Just as we Torontonians may have reacted a tad too defensively to the Niagara ad campaign, we should also take care not to cheer too loudly for kudos from an American source. Some perspective is in order. Ad campaigns and brief travel articles can't truly capture the complex character of this city and what it has to offer.
Also bear in mind that The Huffington Post has been criticized for the trivial nature of some of its coverage. For example, alongside the story about Toronto, the website's travel section also included an article on wearing “flying pasties” to “protect your dignity in airport scanners,” and a listing of the world's top 14 nude beaches.
Through some inexcusable oversight, Toronto's Hanlan's Point wasn't among them.
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