A Kamloops city council candidate promising more decorum at city hall had to delete an election-related spoof hostage video that “didn’t land” like he wanted it to.

Early in the campaign, Dennis Giesbrecht published a video of him seen on his knees, pretending he’s being forced to support incumbent city councillors as a masked man in a tactical vest holds a baseball bat over his head, implying he will be beaten if he says the wrong thing.

Giesbrecht, who has been an outspoken critic of city council for years, is a member of new slate Pivot Kamloops, four members who collectively pledged to “restore civility and decorum” to city hall.

“I’m doing this of my own free will. My family is safe,” he said in the video. “Kamloops has never been better run. We’ve got a city council that’s amazing, every dollar is well spent, and no one should even run against them.”

Giesbrecht said he was attempting to lampoon city hall communication strategies, but he quickly got a little more negative feedback than he expected. He has since deleted it but not before someone downloaded copies.

“If we can’t laugh at ourselves, then we’re in bigger trouble than we could even imagine,” he told iNFOnews.ca.

iNFOnews.ca received a copy of the video after it was deleted from social media.

He suggested the idea stemmed from frustrations over city hall “controlling the narrative,” citing the lack of public inquiry periods at city council meetings and city hall suggesting the performing arts centre project is coming under-budget after early cost hikes.

He agreed that public sentiments surrounding city council incumbents have become quite toxic, particularly online, with memes describing councillors as the “hateful eight” frequently circulating over the past few years.

Asked how the video pairs with Pivot’s goals to make city hall a civil place again, Giesbrecht reiterated that it was merely meant to be a joke rather than an attack ad.

“I get accused of being too serious all the time, so I went outside my comfort zone, tried to be a little humourous, and it didn’t land the way I wanted it to land.”