Greyhound Scraps Ads After Canada Bus Beheading

Post Reply New Topic

August 6, 2008
Filed at 4:54 p.m. ET

Greyhound Scraps Ads After Canada Bus Beheading
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TORONTO (AP) -- Greyhound has scrapped an ad campaign that extolled the relaxing upside of bus travel after one of its passengers was accused of beheading and cannibalizing another traveler.

The ad's tag line was ''There's a reason you've never heard of 'bus rage.' ''

Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said Wednesday a billboard and some tunnel posters near a bus terminal in Toronto are still up and would be removed later in the day.

''Greyhound knows how important it is to get these removed and we are doing everything possible,'' Wambaugh said. ''This is something that we immediately asked to be done last week, realizing that these could be offensive.''

Vince Weiguang Li, who immigrated to Canada from China in 2004, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old carnival worker Tim McLean. He has yet to enter a plea.

Thirty-seven passengers were aboard the Greyhound from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, as it traveled at night along a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway about 12 miles from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. Witnesses said Li attacked McLean unprovoked, stabbing him dozens of times.

As horrified passengers fled the bus, Li severed McLean's head, displaying it to some of the passengers outside the bus, witnesses said.

A police officer at the scene reported seeing the attacker hacking off pieces of the victim's body and eating them, according to a police report.

Wambaugh said the ads only appeared in Canada and that some in Ontario and western Canada have already been removed. About 20,000 inserts of the Greyhound ads were scheduled to be put into an Alberta Summer Games handbook but they stopped the presses.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/A ... nted=print

Thank goodness there's still a way to travel and avoid those annoying security checks.

Is it in bad taste to find the fact that that was their tagline hilarious?

I am ashamed to say that despite the tragedy, I, too, found the irony hilarious.

Its almost like it was precognitive. It is kind of ironic, I am not ready to find it funny yet, maybe after the shock and horror subsides.

"You'll lose your head over Greyhound's summer travel bargains!"

"Don't come up short on your travel plans..."

Okay, I'll stop now.

Same here, I'll admit.

Choose greyhound and you'll be heading home!




mojo123

Go out in a bus; come home in a box.
[The irony in this turn of events was too much for me, too.]

I've seen those ads, and yes, I suppose they're no longer appropriate, now that we have heard of bus rage. It's just a coincidence, I suppose, but the contrast is rather funny. No offense intended to those hurt by this event.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one here with a sick sense of humor . As soon as I saw the title I too started thinking of losing your head puns for their ads, though several people beat me to the punch.

[quote="CityAsylum"]August 6, 2008
Filed at 4:54 p.m. ET

Greyhound Scraps Ads After Canada Bus Beheading
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TORONTO (AP) -- Greyhound has scrapped an ad campaign that extolled the relaxing upside of bus travel after one of its passengers was accused of beheading and cannibalizing another traveler.

The ad's tag line was ''There's a reason you've never heard of 'bus rage.' ''

Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said Wednesday a billboard and some tunnel posters near a bus terminal in Toronto are still up and would be removed later in the day.

''Greyhound knows how important it is to get these removed and we are doing everything possible,'' Wambaugh said. ''This is something that we immediately asked to be done last week, realizing that these could be offensive.''

Vince Weiguang Li, who immigrated to Canada from China in 2004, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old carnival worker Tim McLean. He has yet to enter a plea.

Thirty-seven passengers were aboard the Greyhound from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, as it traveled at night along a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway about 12 miles from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. Witnesses said Li attacked McLean unprovoked, stabbing him dozens of times.

As horrified passengers fled the bus, Li severed McLean's head, displaying it to some of the passengers outside the bus, witnesses said.

A police officer at the scene reported seeing the attacker hacking off pieces of the victim's body and eating them, according to a police report.

Wambaugh said the ads only appeared in Canada and that some in Ontario and western Canada have already been removed. About 20,000 inserts of the Greyhound ads were scheduled to be put into an Alberta Summer Games handbook but they stopped the presses.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/A ... nted=print[/
quote]

There's a reason you've never heard of bus rage... topic

...Until now.

That tag line is false. There have been other instances of violence on public transport both in Canada and in the US.