San Francisco launches $6 million ad campaign that paints it as 'quirky and fun' amid crime crisis
San Francisco is pumping millions of dollars into a tourism campaign that it hopes will revitalize its pre-pandemic travel appeal
The city of San Francisco has launched its biggest ad campaign to lure tourists and business travelers to the city that has been suffering from an intense and unending homelessness, drug addiction, and crime crisis.
The campaign, called 'Always San Francisco' cost a whopping $6million and is being spearheaded by the city's tourism bureau.
It includes, among other things, the city's first television commercial, a music video of sorts that seeks to highlight the quirkiness and diversity of the city.
The campaign comes as San Francisco has been hampered by public drug use and high-profile crimes amid calls for politicians to do more to clean up the California city.
The 'Always San Francisco' video showcases the quirky characters who live in San Francisco - including Lady Camden, a drag queen made famous on RuPaul's Drag Race
The campaign comes as San Francisco deals with widespread crime, homeless and drug use that has driven away companies and consumers
The ad is set to a new version of the song 'San Francisco,' originally made famous by Jody Garland and will be rolled out across multiple markets that include New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, DC, and Houston.
The minute-long musical ad features an array of local talent, including Lady Camden, a drag queen who became popular on 'RuPaul's Drag Race,' and local muralist Sirron Norris.
A digital ad campaign will also hit international markets. The effort is being funded by a city grant, a grant from the state tourism bureau and San Francisco Travel.
Since the country transitioned out of its COVID-induced fear of traveling, San Francisco has not been able to hit its pre-pandemic level of visitors.
In 2019, the city welcomed 26.2million visitors, according to the SF Travel Association. That number bottomed out in 2020 due to the pandemic but hit just 21.9million in 2022.
In 2022, a number of major conferences and events, including the Outside Lands musical festival, returned in full force to the city, leading to a $7.4billion in spending - more than twice the 2021 figure.
However, a significant handful of high-profile criminal episodes, in addition to a number of retail closures prompted by rampant and unprosecuted theft, have tarnished the city's image to potential visitors.
According to one analysis, San Francisco is suffering from the slowest downtown recovery of any of the 62 largest cities in the US and Canada post-pandemic.
Traveler numbers remain down in San Francisco have not return to its pre-pandemic figures
Some major conference organizers have said that they will no longer opt to host their events in the city due specifically to the homelessness
A homeless man is seen on the streets of SF as public officials grapple with how to solve the city's seemingly unending problems
Making that recovery even slower are the stores that have announced they are ditching downtown SF.
Nordstrom, Whole Foods, Saks Off 5th, Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Office Depot have all made the decision to abandon their downtown locations.
Even prior to the pandemic, organizers were beginning to make different decisions about where to hold their conferences. In 2018, a major medical-industry conference said they would convene elsewhere due to the city's homelessness issue.
SF is anticipating 23.9million visitors in 2023, who will spend a total of $8.7billion. The record high for the spending figure came in 2019 and totaled $9.6billion.
But that figure could be lower given the issues the city faces and without much progress in cleaning up the streets.
The new San Francisco campaign cost the city and various state funds and backers $6million
The campaign comes amid the city's ongoing struggle with a severe crime and homelessness crisis
Public policy in San Francisco has continually allowed for a skyrocketing homeless, drug addicted and mentally unstable population to run the streets of the city.
The city is also facing a spiraling violent crime problem. Tech exec Bob Lee became one of the city's latest murder victims last month.
Lee, 43, was allegedly murdered by another tech executive on April 4 while visiting San Francisco from Miami, where he moved last year with his family.
A coroner's report reveals in graphic detail how Lee was found slumped outside an apartment block with no pulse before paramedics rushed him to hospital, where knife wounds were found on his heart and a lung.
He died with ketamine, cocaine and alcohol in his system.
In another criminal episode, Don Carmignani, 53, an ex-fire chief, is facing charges for using pepper spray on a homeless man who proceeded to brutally attack him with a metal crowbar.
Carmignani suffered a fractured skull and jaw. Prosecutors are able to charge him because he used pepper spray on the vagrant thereby instigating the attack, but the city's District Attorney has opted not to prosecute the homeless man because he was acting in 'self-defense.'
The number of homeless people in San Francisco was tallied in February of last year at almost 8,000, the second highest figure of any year since 2005, according to the official government count which takes place every three years.
Cash App founder Bob Lee died of stab wounds while outside an apartment building in San Francisco
Former fire chief Don Carmignani suffered a fractured skull and jaw in the attack, and required 51 stitches after Garrett Doty, 24, allegedly beat him over the head with a crowbar
Various liberal politicians and city leaders have attempted to implement numerous policies to curb the many issues that have arisen due to the swelling homeless and drug-addicted population.
One specific harm reduction policy that failed was the opening of the Tenderloin Center last year that was meant to help alleviate the city's drug and homelessness crisis.
It cost taxpayers a whopping $22million and was meant to be a 'safe place' for addicts to 'get high without getting robbed' and without fear of fatally overdosing.
Users were also meant to be directed to help centers, though during its first four months of operations, it referred just 18 people of the more than 23,000 who were welcomed to the site.
Overall, less than one percent of visits ended in a 'completed linkage' to behavioral health programs.
Despite their efforts, 2022 saw upward of 500 people die from overdoses in San Francisco. In 2021, that figure was 641.
Many of those living on the streets battle serious illnesses often exacerbated by substance use.
Source: Daily Mail
