While GO Transit’s suspension on Tuesday was a huge inconvenience for riders across the GTA, the timing couldn’t have been worse for the agency: just two days before a big PR stunt that ended up not going well. public.
Residents who needed to take a train to or from Oshawa, Whitby, Milton, Richmond Hill, Stouffville, the airport or several other destinations around Toronto found themselves stranded, or worse, stuck on a train for hours when CN’s rail systems are faced with a situation. to a network-wide failure.
Then the app that GO advised people to use to find alternative modes of transport crashed in the middle of rush hour due to increased demand, further angering customers.
So, as you might expect, GO’s Thursday announcement of a collaboration with Drake ahead of the artist’s Toronto shows wasn’t exactly the best news.
Do you have the money to do this, but not to provide riders with reliable service? embarrassing. https://t.co/5OffJ5vun6
— Miami Heat Wentz (@honeythrone) October 5, 2023
As part of the new Drake x GO takeover, the transit authority shared a photo of a sign at the Bloor GO station, decorated in the rapper’s signature colors of black and gold, with the words “It’s All A Bloor Station” in honor of It’s All. Blur Tour, which Drizzy is currently on.
Their promotional tweet also included a shot of a GO train in the same color scheme and the tagline “Ride the 6ix on GO,” all to welcome the celebrity back home.
With Drake’s TO shows set to take place on Friday, October 6th and Saturday, October 7th at Scotiabank Arena, GO unfortunately couldn’t just get on the campaign trail until concerns over this week’s confusion subsided.
It’s a shame, but not surprising
— Liam (@liamtakesaphoto) October 5, 2023
Responses to the cheeky (and obviously fake) rebranding include the lines: like “GO is truly the kind of person who will do anything to look good except work on himself” and “Deal with your software updates first (although another commenter was quick to point out that it was the CN update that caused the crash, not GO).”
Some even suggest that whoever came up with the marketing idea should be firedand one person was not only disappointed in GO’s priorities, but also said that now they I’m embarrassed to take the GO train to work.
Many are also joining in and bitterly wondering about the cost of this initiative, although it is clear that the publicity stunt consisted of only a few very photoshopped photos and not any real changes to the stations or vehicles.