St. Hubert stereotypes Chinese Canadians, issues non-apology

St. Hubert, Quebec's popular greasy chicken chain, hit a sour note with many viewers as they poked fun at Chinese-Canadians in a recent ad:



Being tone-deaf when it comes to stereotypes is one thing. It just shows marketers being out of touch with modern multiculturalism. When this happens, you learn from it. You acknowledge fault, offer a sincere apology, and move on having learned an important lesson.

What you do not do is issue a defensive non-apology (via CBC):

“We truly apologize if this television advertisement has offended or insulted you. At no time did we want to portray the Chinese community in a negative way, and we don't believe that we have done so. 

We simply wanted to show the impact that our new offer has on the competition. We chose a Chinese restaurant because there are hundreds in Quebec. This is not a question of stereotyping as it is in fact, a reality. 

Furthermore, the actors who played in the advertisement agreed to do so good-heartedly and knowingly, without ever feeling exploited, insulted or ridiculed. 

Thank you for your understanding and again, we are sorry you felt that this advertisement was demeaning to the Asian community.”

This was in response to Montreal citizen Cathy Wong, who sent a complaint letter to St. Hub, and later articulated her position to the local media:

“The ad irritates me because the storyline is based on a false competition between Chinese restaurants and local product, and uses stereotypes from a minority group to brand St-Hubert’s products as cool and funny... “It is not a negative stereotype, but because the fact that there are so [few] Chinese on TV and every time that they go on TV, we see them in cliché roles, and those stereotypes are extremely lazy or reductive and they’re repeated constantly. They’re so deeply rooted in popular culture that we actually use them as punchlines to sell, and that’s exactly what bothers me about this publicity.”

In other words, it's lazy creative that is insulting to both the Chinese-Canadian community and to our collective intelligence as a modern, diverse society.

The Chinese Canadian National Council and the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations plan to submit a formal complaint to St-Hubert,asking the company to pull the ad and issue a real apology.

Meanwhile, we ad people can hang our heads in shame over the thought of how little social progress we've made as an industry:

Literal "Food Porn" promotes Guide des Restos 2014

My oh my! Reader Cassandria sent me this naughty foodie campaign by Publicis  for a Quebec restaurant guide, shot by Leda & St. Jacques.

ufunk explains (translated) that it's "a rather naughty and risqué poster campaign playing on the ambiguity of the" 18 + "for its 18th edition."

I have no idea why my social media friends would think of me when they saw this...

The only problem is see is that some of them are rather contrived. The concept has been done before, without so much awkward manipulation required. Hell, I would have loaned them this heirloom carrot if they'd asked.

The problem of retro brand racism

Via CBC

When I was a kid, this kind of stereotyping on native people was simply part of the landscape. We had "Indian" costumes, wallets, fake tomahawks and plastic soldiers. And the brands around us reflected this casual racism.

But the potato chip packaging above is not from the 1970s. Krispy Kernels snack foods, of Quebec, decided to reintroduce their old packaging as a "vintage edition," according to the CBC.

Vintage bag, via Yum Yum

Interestingly, the old design was in use until 1990, when the Oka Crisis forced a more sensitive re-evaluation of Aboriginal issues in Canada.

While there is a certain value in recognizing how much things have changed in the past few decades, the ironic use of such a stereotype for marketing purposes seems at best misguided and at worst ignorantly racist.

It gets even worse: The company has an in-store contest that encourages people to take pictures of theor faces in a standee of a loinclothed "little Indian":

Both images via CJAD

Upon launch, Valérie Jalbert, CEO of Yum Yum Chips and Krispy Kernels, and Renee-Maude Jalbert, marketing director of Yum Yum Chips , happily posed with the campaign for La Presse.

Irkar Beljaars, a Montreal-based Mohawk journalist, told the CBC:

“It's just like ‘look at that, I'm pretending to be an Indian. You're just perpetuating racial stereotypes. You're just continuing to mock us by doing things like this.”

Interestingly, Krispy Kernels claims the packaging is a nod to the legendary founder of the potato chip (disputed), who was Native American:

It all began one August night when a customer, offended by the greasy taste of his french-fried potatoes, sent them back to the kitchen. Chef George Crum, who was of Native American descent (which inspired the Yum Yum logo), was equally offended by this return. Averse to criticism, Crum decided to seek revenge and furiously chopped up a new batch of potatoes. Slicing them as thin as paper, he threw them in a boiling hot oil-filled fryer and removed them once crisp and golden. He then seasoned them heavily and served his dish to the picky patron.

The company said the caricature on the package is a return to the company's roots, and is not meant to be mocking.

The campaign page has since been taken down.

Ontario healthcare recruitment ad hints at a Quebec "values" brain drain to come

This ad was Tweeted by @sarahleavitt and others. I can't seem to find it on any of Lakeridge Health's web or social channels, so I don't know whether it predates yesterday's news from Quebec, or if it's a coincidence, or even if it is a real client ad.

What the ad is, however, is a wake-up call to Quebec's provincial government, who yesterday introduced a "Charter of Values" that would prohibit the wearing of "overt religious symbols" in public workplaces, or even when doing business with the public sector. Bizarrely, while hijabs, turbans, kipas and comically-large crosses are explicitly banned by the decree of enforced secularism, existing Christian symbols in prominent places like Quebec's legislature and the provincial flag get to stay because of "historical patrimony".

Montreal Gazette

In Quebec, as in all of Canada, public education, including universities and colleges, and hospitals are provincial responsibilities. The Charter apparently will include a five-year exemption clause for municipalities, hospitals and postsecondary institutions that wish to allow their employees to continue wearing religious symbols on the job. But the xenophobic nature of the Charter is clear to targeted groups.

"We're not asking for time to conform. We're very resolute in the fact that the charter is just wrong," Glenn Nashen, Director of Public Affairs at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital, told the Montreal Gazette. (And speaking of "historical patrimony," Jewish Montrealers have been part of Quebec culture since the mid-1700s.)

Which brings us back to the ad, above. Having done professional recruitment for hospitals myself, I know that there is an HR crisis. The competition for nurses, doctors, technologists and others is fierce, with employers often aggressively recruiting in other cities, provinces, and even countries. In an increasingly multicultural Canada, many of the healthcare professionals we come in contact with are new Canadians whose cultures include these types of religious attire — for example, Islam is Canada's fastest-growing religion.

Quebec already has long had problems keeping its healthcare workforce, because of lower compensation and language law issues. Will the new "values" take the brain drain to the next level?

From The National Post:

Dr. Sanjeet Singh Saluja, who wears a turban as part of his faith, said Wednesday that the PQ’s controversial “Charter of Quebec Values” would drive people from the Sikh, Jewish and Muslim communities away. 

“The sad thing is I don’t know if I’d be able to stay here in Quebec,” said Saluja, an emergency-room doctor with the McGill University Health Centre. 

“Even though I love my practice here in Quebec, my faith is something that’s important to me and I don’t feel comfortable giving up that part of my persona and I don’t think a lot of people would be willing to, either.”

While it might seem opportunistic for "Rest Of Canada" hospitals to use the Charter's presumed racism as an edge in poaching candidates, can we blame them?

While analysts say that the Charter is unlikely to pass, the message to people who publicly practice non-Christian religions is clear: Give it up, or move on.

UPDATE: It's real!

Want to be part of a leading hospital focused on quality and safety? We want you. Check out our new ad: pic.twitter.com/0Od8NS2OxI
— Lakeridge Health (@LakeridgeHealth) September 12, 2013

Canada Day rebranded as "Moving Day" for Best Buy in Quebec

That was the flyer those of us in the RoC ("Rest-of-Canada") got for last weekend's holiday sale. But if you live in Quebec, you got one of these:

National advertisers are often told that Canadian patriotism doesn't sell as well in Quebec, especially among those who see the province's founding European-descended population as a unique and separate nation. But the big electronics retailer may have failed to understand that this kind of anti-Canada strategy — especially on the one day when most Canadians are fiercely proud of themselves — tends to enrage federalists everywhere.

You can enjoy the PR meltdown on their Facebook page. Here are some highlights (that didn't involve anti-French trolling):

Their French web site, by the way, has this:

Danielle Jang, spokeswoman for Best Buy, gave this hilarious response to CBC News:

"Like every year, we feel it is important to recognize the Moving Day holiday in Quebec because it is a significant day in this market and it's the only place in Canada where this happens. We want to celebrate and recognize this as an important day."

Developing...

Tip via Consumerist (because I was too busy celebrating... errr... "Moving Day"... to keep up with the local news.)

"Ici, c'est Pepsi"

Here, it's Pepsi!

Vincent just sent me this funny Pepsi ad from Quebec, in which a gang of French Canadian stereotypes attack an American tourist stereotype for daring to drink Coke.



Pepsi has long played the market in Quebec very differently than the "rest of Canada" because the soft drink has a special relationship with the province. It far outsells Coke there now, due to a its dedication to homegrown Quebec-only campaigns that celebrate their unique culture and sense of humour. This relationship is so tight and well-known that, when I was a kid, "Pepsi" was also a derogatory term for our francophone neighbours to the east and north.

The new ad is pretty funny even to this anglo. Anyone have credits?

Wendy's Canada "poutitions" parliament to recognize our national dish

Update: Wendy's e-mailed me with the following:

"Thank you for mentioning the Wendy’s Poutition in your latest blog post. We just wanted to clarify that we have yet to reach our goal of 100,000  signatures (we’re at 2,465 as of today)."

Which confused the hell out of me, because the "progress" graphic said they had reached their goal. (Turns out its the default screen you get if you try to look at the "poutition" without "liking" the page first.)

Anyway, if you want to pitch for poutine, you still have a chance...

That's right. The goopy, seems-like-a-great-idea-after-last-call, mix of fries gravy and curd cheese that Quebec gave Canadians everywhere: Poutine.

In a pretty clever Facebook promotion, Wendy's Canada is asking Canadians to "like" its page and sign the "poutition". If they get 100,000 clicktivists, they say they'll officially submit it to Parliament for consideration.

And they've apparently made it.

I assume the Opposition NDP will support the motion, seeing as they have so much support in poutine's homeland of Quebec. And the majority Conservatives, who were mostly shut out of seats in Quebec, and are still looking to make in-roads to the major Ontario urban centres where poutine is popular, will find this issue worth considering. (The third-party Liberals, in honour of long-serving Prime Minister Jean Poutine, will likely vote on party lines.)

The idea of making a classic Quebec comfort food Canada's "national" dish is likely to cause some controversy, however. First of all because it is already a "national" dish in the nation-within-a-nation that is Quebec. Second, many Westerners have yet to be converted to the ultimate junk food.

But I think it's a nice way to acknowledge that most great Canadian cultural icons come from Quebec: jazz legend Oscar Peterson, Oscar-winning Director Denys Arcand, Captain of the Goddamn Starship Enterprise William Shatner, Celine D-...  Did I mention the Captain of the Goddamn Starship Enterprise?

Even Wendy's has seen fit to make this an opportunity for the "Rest of Canada" to make Quebec feel more loved, even going so far as to parody the federalist slogan "My Canada Includes Quebec".

What the Hull? Outaouais tourism campaign baffles Americans (and me too!)

Steve Hall at Adrants writes, "Ever heard of Outaouais? Neither have we. And we still don't know where it is after watching this odd tourism ad for the place. Apparently it's in Canada somewhere. Where trains are invisible, roads go to Barcelona, waterfalls aren't famous, video games were inspired and the three largest conifer trees grow. Or something like that."


Outaouais Tourism from Bleublancrouge on Vimeo.

Mon Dieu!  My poor neighbours across the river!

But Steve makes a good point. What the hell was the point of this video, by BBR? To get people talking about the Western Quebec? Mission accomplished... sort of. Well, actually not at all.

Meanwhile, the French language version is actually quite funny, as well as featuring recognizable views of Hull (now known as Gatineau):


Tourisme Outaouais from Bleublancrouge on Vimeo.

(Note to Americans: That's not really Big Ben. It's the Peace Tower, part of Canada's Parliament buildings across the river in Ottawa. Ottawa is the capital of Canada. Canada is the country north of Detroit, where your "girlfriend" you met at that thing,  who never returned your Facebook friend request, lives.)

I really don't get why the English campaign had to use such generic outdoor shots, instead of real landmarks. Were they afraid we Anglos would be pissed off about the Peace Tower joke? And if they really wanted to show the Outaouais that would be amusing to Ottawans, they might have at least shown underage boys drinking quarts of 50 at a raunchy "tactile" strip club and called it "the National Ballet"...

Good writing and talent. I just don't get how it's supposed to draw tourists.

From adman to auteur?

This is a cross-post with Osocio. For industry context and credits, start here.

We do a lot of our video production work in Montreal, and I've always been impressed with the passion and professionalism of the production houses there. But one thing that always takes me aback is when the one of the directors or producers — who also work on world-class features — refer to our 30-second PSA or government ad as a "film".

This video, for Moelle épinière et motricité Québec, takes the idea one step further. It is a film and although a short one, it takes itself seriously with opening and closing credits, and beautiful acting and production values.



People keep talking about the death of advertising. But they're just thinking of traditional media. The fact is, advertisers are having to give up on the idea that they can steal 30 seconds of a TV viewer's attention and get used to a now in which everything — including commercials — is on-demand entertainment.

One way I explain this to non-ad people is like this: "Let me guess... you record your favourite shows, or buy them on DVD,  so you can skip through the commercials. But have you ever clicked a YouTube link of a "hilarious" or "amazing" ad that someone posted on Facebook? That's the only difference. We have to earn your attention rather than ambush you for it."

This video earned my attention. Not only is it worth watching for the content, but the cause is one that got me emotionally engaged in the story. (Don't we all hate those kind of people?)

And that's why the new "advertainment" landscape is good for social issues marketers like us. When consumer advertisers get attention through a great and surprising ad, researchers often record a negative reaction when the product logo appears at the end. They feel like they're paying a price for having watched the ad.

But when the ad is for a sympathetic cause, the end is never a letdown. It provides a sense of relief because the call-to-action allows the audience to convert their emotions into positive action. It's where they go from being overwhelmed to empowered. If it's done right, anyway.

Let's assume this product placement was unintentional.

And the best part of free online media is that there is no hard limit to the video's length. It is mostly determined by engagement and the average viewer's attention span. Even with YouTube's 10-minute-or-so cap, you could create an interactive feature-length film if you wanted, just by linking the videos together.

Recently, a colleague was questioning my use of the word "video" when he thought I should call the project an "ad" or a "spot". I'm starting to warm to "film" now, even though most of these projects are digital from end-to-end. It seems more dignified, somehow.

Lingua franca

Most of the work we do at Acart is either for governments, national associations, or regional audiences. So we are very much used to both the rules and the sensitivities around Canada's bilingualism.

For example, with creative copy you never use the word "translate". If a concept is developed in English, then a francophone Copywriter or Creative Director needs to be involved at early stages to ensure that the message can work in a different but equal French language version.

Unlike large consumer clients, ours are either not allowed or can't afford to do unique creative for French and English Canada. So we do our best to go beyond specifics of wordplay and cultural in-jokes to reach more universal Canadian touchpoints.

It's not ideal, but at least we try. And after all these years of trying to reconcile the two solitudes in advertising, it was a little shocking to see the Government of Quebec dismissing other French Canadians.

This was in today's Globe and Mail:

French-speaking residents of Ontario said they were insulted and angry when they received English-only advertising brochures promoting snowmobiling in Quebec. The brochures, sent to 145,000 households in Ontario, vaunt Quebec's snowy trails as "A Ride Worth the Drive."

Some francophones in Ontario, home to the largest community of French Canadians outside Quebec, say they would rather stay home instead.

They said they were incredulous that the government of a province whose official language is French would mail out English-only advertising to the more than half-million francophones who live next door.

"What were they thinking?" asked Mariette Carrier-Fraser, president of the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario. "We would have thought that a province that's a majority francophone would want to maintain links with other francophones in the country."

What were they thinking indeed? This little language flap gives an interesting insight into Canadian language politics, and one which I'm sure is familiar to my Franco Ontarian friends and neighbours.

Everyone's told and re-told stories of French Canadians getting a hard time in France, but I grew up also hearing stories of Les Ontariens who were as French as toast being berated and snubbed for their dialect when they wandered too far away from the other side of the Ottawa River. I've witnessed situations where a Quebecker "corrected" the French of an Ontario francophone — to their face.

On the other side, during the last referendum I still recall a spokesperson for Maritime Acadians talking about what a raw deal Quebec separation would be for them, but that Quebec didn't care about francophone communities in the rest of Canada.

The CBC coverage quoted Tourisme Québec citing "budgetary constraints" as the reason for the snub:

"We made the choice to produce this ad campaign for markets in New England and Ontario, where the majority of people are anglophone," said Michel-André Roy, communications director for the Ministry of Tourism in Quebec.

If this is a common attitude, then it's sad. Since the Trudeau years, Canada has made bilingualism a national agenda. Not everyone has been happy with it, but regardless the Federal Government and many national advertisers have been ignoring the kind of "budgetary constraint" that Tourisme Québec finds so important, instead going along with laws and programs that support minority language rights on the national stage.

Again from the Globe:

Jean-Marie Leduc, a retired federal civil servant, complained to the Quebec government after he received the English-only pamphlets last week.

"I get advertising in French from Canadian Tire and Loblaws, why can't the Quebec government do the same thing?" Mr. Leduc asked in an interview from his home in Ottawa. "They're not respecting my language."

"This is an insult. To not recognize there are francophones outside Quebec is just an insult," Mr. Leduc said.

I'd love to hear from francophone readers — Quebec and otherwise — about their thoughts on this issue. Are Quebec's fights for language rights only for Quebeckers? Has it all really been about protecting the culture of an island of French in a sea of English — or myopic nationalism?