FUMBLE: "WAR ON THE CAR” GETS EXTRA MILEAGE FROM THE ACCUSED

You gotta love a colourful phrase like “war on the car.” It has quite a ring to it and, like most such lines, it’s starting to stick. Opponents of Toronto city councilors and of Mayor David Miller, who have supported a number of initiatives aimed at restricting traffic flow in the city, have been using the phrase at every opportunity to characterize Miller and company’s pro-cycling and pro-pedestrian agenda as pointedly anti-car. Miller, and his allies on council Kyle Rae and Adrian Heaps, set out to refute that notion, but fell victim to one of TD&F’s most written about pitfalls when, in one single National Post article, all three of them were quoted using the phrase “war on the car.” In doing so, they gave their critics exactly what they wanted – yet more repetitions of those words in media coverage, directly connected to Miller, Rae and Heaps. “I’m not involved in a ‘war on the car,’” Rae said. Once again, the lesson here is to leave the negatively-charged language alone as you refute it – otherwise, you’re just keeping it alive and further entrenching its connection to you and your brand. Fumble!