E V ERY BODY 'S TA L K I N'
July/august 2016 BCBusiness 153
What is the streisand effect? Something to
do with trying to order a blintz in a strong
Brooklyn accent? Singing notes that break
glass? Or people who need people (the
luckiest people of all)? No. As anyone in the
legal profession can tell you, the Streisand
e•ect refers to an unintended conse-
quence of bringing legal action—when an
attempt to combat bad publicity through
the courts ends up producing even more
unwanted attention. The Streisand e•ect
recently claimed another victim—Dwight
Brissette, former senior VP of Ledcor.
The Streisand e•ect gained its name
from a 2003 case in which the famous
singer/actor attempted to suppress an
aerial photo of her Malibu home that had
been published online. Following Barbra
Streisand's legal action, the photo, which
had previously racked up a total of six
downloads, was viewed over 420,000
times. A star was born.
Fast forward to June 2013. Brissette
was among a group of Ledcor execs at
the Coal Harbour Cactus Club location.
A server alleged that an apparently inebri-
ated Brissette "inappropriately touched"
her and referred to her as "Kitty-Kat."
The Ledcor group was asked to leave by
management, and that would likely
Fanning
the Flames
W
IllustratIon: Kagan Mcleod
W a t e r c o o l e r
Sometimes going to
court to defend yourself
creates more problems
than it solves. Just ask
Barbra Streisand
by Steve Burgess
INSIDE
Try some "blue-sky" thinking ... Meet the chocolate pedaller ... What not to wear to work ... + more
J U ly / a U g U s t 2 0 1 6
"There's an app that came up
around this time, it's called
Strava, and it has taken off
like crazy and also cost a lot of
friendships" –p.157
Off lıne
