An online Stay Away campaign will do what it says on the tin: try to push potential troublemakers away from visiting Amsterdam. To begin with, this online campaign will target British men between the ages of 18 and 35.
So how will the campaign work? When people with British IP addresses type certain searches like ‘stag party Amsterdam’ or ‘bar crawl Amsterdam’ into search engines a video will automatically appear at the top of the search results.
The Stay Away campaign video aims to address problems that Amsterdam has with laddish tourists, who visit sex workers, take drugs, drink too much and generally cause a nuisance. As a Brit, I feel comfortable admitting that we do love and drink.
Amsterdam is seen by some as a city where anything goes, and recently a weed-smoking ban has been announced in the Old Town. The Amsterdam government still want to encourage visitors, but not to the detriment of those who live in the city.
These videos will explain the risks of drinking heavily and using drugs. We suspect that they will also include information on what happens if you try to ride around the city on a bike, drunk, or take a dip in one of the canals.
A How To Amsterdam campaign will also be coming soon to teach visitors to the city how to behave. Basically, don’t do any of the things the video told you not to do. So, it’s a two-pronged approach and it could soon be extended to searches from other countries too.