These are cautionary tales for business owners thinking they can cash in on the solemnity of Remembrance Day.
Canadians don鈥檛 like it.
Two bars in different parts of the country aren鈥檛 commenting on heavy criticism about their use of Nov. 11 to promote drink and food specials. But they have removed the offending ads.
Gabbo鈥檚 Night Club in Regina used the phrase 鈥渓est we forget鈥� and a bed of poppies to
And Maxwell鈥檚 Plum, a pub in Halifax, used images of the poppy, an iconic symbol owned by the Royal Canadian Legion not approved for commercial use, to promote beer and food specials.
Brett Martin noticed the ad on the .
鈥淚 found it a disrespectful approach to a holiday that really isn't a holiday. It's a day of remembrance. A day to honour fallen heroes,鈥� he told CTV Atlantic.
He says his public comments on the pub鈥檚 page were deleted and when he followed up with a private message, he got only a flippant remark back. The pub鈥檚 owner and manager declined requests for comment.
But the poppies were removed in updated ads released Tuesday afternoon.
In Regina, the reaction was swift and universal and hasn鈥檛 let up, even after from its social media accounts.
A man on a downtown Regina street said the ad was 鈥渟o tasteless that I thought it was a joke.鈥�
called the Regina bar鈥檚 ad 鈥渄isgraceful鈥� and
Facebook user Mikaela Stroder wrote: 鈥渢rying to profit off of the service men and women of our country who have shed blood, sweat, and tears, and even their own life. Complete disrespect on their part with no effort to apologize yet, but instead deleted their twitter. Sad to see such disrespect from a local business.鈥�
愛污传媒 Regina contacted the bar for comment, but the request has gone unanswered.
Lisa Watson, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Regina, said businesses must respond directly to their missteps.
鈥淚f they apologize, people will generally forgive them,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淏ut with social media, it's becoming harder and harder all the time to make those mistakes and have them go away quietly.鈥�
With reports from 愛污传媒 Regina and 愛污传媒 Atlantic
