Campaign blunder: Klein features wrong city in election video

A paid ad from mayoral candidate Kevin Klein on his commitment to Winnipeg has been pulled after commenters noticed one small error: the footage used in the ad was actually of Edmonton.

The 55-second video is rife with Edmonton landmarks, including one shot that appears to feature the Alberta legislature’s visitor centre, and another with the 100 Street Funicular, a popular tourist attraction in Edmonton.

The ad, which was published to Meta users last week including those on Facebook and Instagram, focuses on safety concerns in Winnipeg and bureaucratic red tape impacting local businesses, with Klein appearing at the end.

It has since been deleted by Klein’s campaign, but archival data from Meta shows it was online starting Oct. 15 and cost around $1,000.

Klein described the error as an “honest mistake” from their staff videographer that his campaign team caught while at a bonding event held at a Manitoba Moose game.

“Our campaign is fully committed to Winnipeg, and we absolutely want to showcase our beautiful city in our videos,” he said in an email Monday.

“This was an unintentional error, and we take it seriously … we had reached out to our videographer (who is a local of Winnipeg) and he explained it was a simple mistake made while editing late into the night. He adjusted and we moved on with our day.”

Mayor Scott Gillingham’s campaign spokesperson derided the ad as “lazy” and suggested Klein “spends a lot of time attacking Winnipeg, but can’t be bothered to use actual Winnipeggers or scenes of the city in his own ads.”

“We know Kevin Klein hasn’t spent much time downtown, but we didn’t realize it had been so long that he’s forgotten what it looks like,” Colin Fast said.

“Scott Gillingham has spent the last four years working to attract $1.8 billion in new investment to downtown Winnipeg. Kevin Klein apparently needs Google Maps to find it.”

A new version of the ad was uploaded to Klein’s Instagram account Sunday featuring footage that is distinctly of Winnipeg, but not before some online caught on to the error.

One social media user said he was left confused after noticing the original ad, which came up while he was scrolling Instagram, lacked any major Winnipeg landmarks.

“If somebody wants to run for mayor of Winnipeg, at a bare minimum, they should know what our city looks like,” the user, who asked to remain anonymous, said in a message to the Free Press.

“In an age where A.I. misinformation is constantly dominating our social media feeds, it’s disappointing that a leading candidate for mayor couldn’t do the bare minimum to verify the content that he’s putting out.”

When asked if A.I. was used for the ad, spokesperson for Klein’s campaign said the error was made by a human being, and “anyone suggesting otherwise is inventing a narrative that does not exist.”

Campaigning is a high-pressure, fast-moving time that sometimes leaves room for mistakes, said University of Winnipeg political science professor Malcolm Bird.

He noted he hopes voters focus on more urgent issues in Winnipeg, like downtown safety, and which candidates have tangible plans to fix those issues.

“Campaign offices are really busy places. They don’t have a lot of resources, they don’t have a lot of time, everything’s really shoestring,” he said.

“And that’s not a criticism, you’ve a month or a few weeks to go, you don’t have a lot of resources, you’re doing the best you can, you’re trying to get your message out there, so these things are going to happen.”

Election day is Oct. 28.

malak.abas@winnipegfreepress.com