Labatt just blue themselves. The Canadian brewing company threatened to sue the Montreal Gazette if they do not remove a picture of suspected killer Luka Magnotta with one of their most prolific products, only to end up in a public relations nightmare.
After Labatt Breweries of Canada attempted to disassociate themselves from Magnotta’s criminal, and homicidal notoreity, the Montreal Gazette, which only featured the photograph online, defended their selection, telling the Globe and Mail, “The image originally appeared on Magnotta’s personal Facebook page and on his blog and thus is newsworthy. There is no connection made between the brand and the suspect in the accompanying caption, headline or news story.”
In no time, Twitter erupted with a fury of new, sarcastic slogan ideas for the company, under the hashtag, “newlabattcampaign.” Though some Twitter users found it to be insensitive, or in bad taste, the phrase became the number one trending topic in Canada. Famed National Post columnist Andrew Coyne started the hashtag, mocking Labatt’s overreaction, and tweeting:
Toronto Standard‘s Bert Archer wrote a piece criticizing the media’s use of Magnotta’s sexy photos in their coverage, yet the disputed photo in question was used by one newspaper, solely on their web platform. According to their letter to the Gazette, Labatt was trying to stop a threatening cultural association which was, “highly denigrating” to their brand. However, if uninterrupted, the smaller-market news image and any affiliated branding would probably have barely registered with the public negatively – especially considering the saturation of similarly sexualized images.
Much like Christian Audigier’s Ed Hardy and the 2009-era Jon Gosselin, or O.J. Simpson and the Ford Bronco, unfortunate branding associations are hard for companies to shake. But, the difference between these notorious personalities and companies and the Labatt case was that no lawsuits were involved. Not involving the brands, anyway. These over-the-top negative affiliations affected the brands because they were inseparable from the actions of the offenders. This was not the case with the Gazette‘s picture of Magnotta, which they lifted off his Facebook page.
Labatt has since dropped their request to remove the photo, saying, “Our goal was simply to protect our brand.”
Even though the Magnotta associaton is unlikely to stick, it does bring new meaning to the phrase, “Please Enjoy Responsibly.”
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Joanna Adams is the online and social media editor for Toronto Standard. Follow her on Twitter at†@nowstarringTO.
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