Maybe a marketing study could be our mascot

Metroblogging Pittsburgh riffs on fears that Steely McBeam misrepresents the city's modern image, and I put in my two cents, which I reproduce below:

Steely McBeam, of course, isn't the mascot for the city; he's the mascot for the Steelers. Do people in San Francisco fret that the 49ers don't accurately reflect the city's image?

Frankly, I think we obsess far too much about what people think of us. I don't think our image, or stereotypes about our past, are what stunt our economic growth. If all the resources and energy devoted to marketing Pittsburgh were devoted instead to solving our very real and tangible problems, like our ballooning debt, crumbling infrastructure, and struggling school system? We might end up with a city we can all be truly proud of--and one that could sell itself.