East is a dirty marketing word

Recently, we received a press release about a local business winning an award.

The press release said the business was located in East Peoria. However, lower in the release, it said the business was in Peoria.

I was baffled. I wasn’t sure if they were referring to an already existing business in East Peoria or a new one in Peoria of which I was not aware. I called the phone number on the press release. I left a message and asked if a new business had popped up in Peoria without me noticing.

I heard an interesting reply on my voicemail the next day.
 
A spokesperson for the chain-business said, “As far as that press release, the reason it said Peoria is for marketing purposes. Typically, we are listed as the Peoria (business), even though that, yes, we are truly located in East Peoria. Unfortunately, we found a lot of people have negative connotations toward “east.” For example, East St. Louis. People don’t think nicely of the “east” part. As far as the press release goes, that would be perfectly acceptable to me if you change that from Peoria to East Peoria, but that is kind of why we left that out.”

My first thought was one I had long ago. East Peoria needs a new name.
Contrary to what some say, there is a lot of meaning attached to a name.
By having the name “East Peoria,” we are forever attached to Peoria. The city does not have its own identity. It is Peoria Jr.

Strangers who visit automatically assume East Peoria is part of Peoria. Believe me, I know. I get phone calls, e-mails and faxes for Peoria events constantly. The out-of-town senders have no idea I am covering an entirely different city.

This is bad enough. But, then, to hear East Peoria compared to East St. Louis —  I was aghast.

East Peoria leaders worked very hard to rid the city of a negative stereotype of being a town with nothing in it but industry.

They have done an excellent job of revamping the city and bringing in a good mix of retail, restaurants and other commercial businesses. And, they are not done yet.

Apparently their efforts have not reached everyone.

I never thought of the negative connotations the word “east” might have for our community. I began to ponder what the word “east” meant to me.
Hmmm. Well, the sun rises in the East. This is a good thing.

But, I had to admit the business that did not want to use “east” for marketing reasons may have had a point. East St. Louis is pretty bad. St. Louis is listed in the “top 10 world’s most dangerous cities” on urbanwarfare.org.

I did not see East Peoria on that list.

Then, there is East L.A. Movies depict an area filled with gangs and violence. I don’t recall any movies being made about gang violence in East Peoria.

However, I’m sure there are tons of home video movies of the Festival of Lights parade.

A far stretch brings the Middle East to mind. The closest comparison I can think of is that East Peoria was home to Matt Hale — a white supremacist some called a terrorist.

But, wait ... there is the east bluff in Peoria. Out of all of these comparisons, this may be the closest. However, I would bet my last dollar that the crime rate in East Peoria pales in comparison to Peoria’s east bluff.

On the flip side, consider the instant appeal of East Greenwich, R.I., and East Hamptons in New York.

The point is, “east,” “west,” “south” and “north” are only directional words. The impressions they invoke can be bad or good, depending on where a person is in the United States.

If people are in East Peoria long enough, they will definitely find more good than bad.