Adventures in PR and Punk

Why is no one calling them on this?

A punk band has released a song that references Robert Pickton, serial killer and pig farmer. The usual juvenile, look at us we're relevant and edgy! T-shirts are available at the front! (The rock geek in me must mention at this point that this has all been done before, and such a long time ago that it's about as punk as wearing black leather and piercing your cheek with a safety pin)

The best course of action, of course, would have been to just ignore them. But, oh no. Canadian Press did a story and CTV picked it up and dragged out a family member of one of Pickton's victims and did the usual song and dance, giving the band exactly what they wanted: free media recognition.

"Lead singer Tiffany Cunha says the songs weren't meant to be heard by the families of the missing women and apologized for offending them."

Yes. Well. Right. How do you release a song and expect a certain segment of the population not to hear it? Especially when that part of the population is directly affected by someone mentioned in the song?

"However, the band says it has no plan to take the CD off store shelves."

Well, of course not. You can't make a buck off the back of other people's misery if you take the CD off the market.