Coors Nixes DraftFCB Billboards That Insulted Toronto
Molson Coors Canada will pull 30 billboards in British Columbia that made fun of people from Toronto. In an attempt to play off Canada’s East-West rivalry, the boards — from DraftFCB – touted Coors Light as:
Colder than most people from Toronto.
Ferg Devins, the brewer’s chief public affairs officer, said:
We basically realize we’ve had a misfire here … It was a local insight. The intention was kind of playing off an East-West rivalry, but we’re sorry because obviously we’ve offended some people.
The work was tanked by a single woman, Kathryn Gallagher Morton of Newmarket, Ont., who took this image (click to enlarge) and gave it to a local newspaper newspaper.
The story generated 350 comments on Toronto Star’s web site, where not everyone thought Coors’ self-censorship was warranted:
“Whenever I think of B.C., I think of a bunch of grass smoking potheads living on welfare. Put that on a billboard in Toronto and we will be accused of some charter of rights and freedoms infraction. Meow,” wrote “Manganquay” on the Star’s site.
Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
BNET User Analysis