D.C.’s tourism department shared a promotional video over Twitter earlier this week, giving the message that it was a “relaxed” way of using the Metro to ignore the common courtesy of “walking left, standing right” on escalators.
The new ad was posted with the caption “Live a little (like a tourist). Be an Escaleftor. #StayLocalDC.”
In the 30-second video, a woman stands on the right side of a Metro escalator, while a man blocks the way on the left, having a conversation with her. A man behind the first man fails to proceed and gets frustrated. He is heard complaining and saying “Oh my God, you’ve got to be kidding me!”
Live a little (like a tourist). Be an Escaleftor. #StayLocalDC https://t.co/YDXUevVTRf pic.twitter.com/2YopT1og39
— Visit Washington, DC (@washingtondc) December 10, 2019
The video gives multiple definitions of the word “Escaleftor” in writing, in the meantime: “Person who rides on the left side of the Metro escalator in Washington, D.C.” / “Guy who doesn’t care it’s common courtesy to walk left, stand right.” / “Dude who is so relaxed, he loses all spatial awareness.”
At the end, a red arrow points to the man in the back, as the text below reads “Don’t be that guy… Be an Escaleftor.”
The post received over 50 retweets, almost 200 likes and so many comments, most of them harshly critical.
Uh, no. We actually need people to adopt stand right, walk left courtesy *everywhere.*
— Rachel Walden (@rachel_w) December 10, 2019
Delete this right now.
— Dan O'Hara (@danohara17) December 10, 2019
I honestly thought this was a reminder for people NOT TO STAND ON THE LEFT until I realized you're advocating exactly the opposite.
Have you lost your mind?
— Karim Lebhour (@KaLebhour) December 11, 2019