On Monday morning, as MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” segued to commercial, the viewing audience was served this:
This is a screenshot. Video is on original article
Yikes! Lucky for me I live in a building with only one other tenant, who, while not 100-percent positive, I don’t believe is part of any terrorist sleeper cell. Something about the music he plays that penetrates our thin walls tells me so.
The roughly half-million-dollar ad above, paid for by the Hotel Association of New York City and a local workers union, will run for 10 days, according to the Daily News, in prime morning and evening spots in New York City, on such channels as CNN, the aforementioned MSNBC and Fox News, and during Yankees and Mets games.
It is certainly the most extreme censure of Airbnb to date. Before, hotel industry-backed ads against Airbnb were limited to the illegality of the home-sharing platform, landlords who allowed it and potential fines those who broke the law faced.
The hotel industry, in its previous ads excoriating Airbnb, literally tugged on illegal hosts’ purse strings: you will face a hefty fine—$7,500 to be exact—if you are caught listing and hosting guests for any period fewer than 30 days in multiunit buildings, a violation in New York City since 2010.
This newest ad, then, is a departure of sorts. It’s straight scare tactic designed to convince cities that Airbnb and other home-sharing platforms are not only illegal, but could potentially be havens for terrorists. Literally aiding and abetting those who want to cause harm. The newest ad cites the Manchester, UK, attack and the perpetrator, Salman Abedi, using a short-term rental rented though an online realtor.
Bjorn Hanson, clinical professor at NYU’s Jonathan M. Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism, watched the commercial and noted its positioning.
