Marketing experts say brands that have advertised with a nod to the recent firing of CTV National News anchor Lisa LaFlamme should beware of the twist.
Companies that incorporate news clips into their branding run the risk of being seen as opportunistic and should prepare for additional scrutiny from customers and employees when they take a stand on hot-button issues, said retail analyst Bruce Winder.
“Nobody’s perfect, right? Every brand has skeletons in the closet…and that opens them up to a lot of scrutiny…so you better make sure your house is in order before you start throwing it out there.”  he said.
“There could be some recovery if there’s something hidden in the closets as it relates to anything both companies have done, so it’s a high-risk move.”
Winter’s comments come after fast-food chain Wendy’s changed the profile picture on its Canadian Twitter account on Thursday to a mascot with gray hair instead of its usual red locks.
The tweet reads “because a star is a star regardless of hair color,” using two star emojis and includes LaFlamme’s name in a hashtag.
Media reports linked LaFlamme’s departure from Bell Media to her decision to stop dying her hair during the pandemic.
Earlier this week, Dove Canada referenced LaFlamme’s firing after 35 years with the network in a Keep the Gray campaign that proclaimed “age is beautiful” and said, “women should be able to do it with their their terms, without any consequence.  “
Dove never mentioned LaFlamme in its campaign, which donated $100,000 to women’s advocacy organization Catalyst and encouraged others to turn their profile pictures to grayscale.
Neither company immediately responded to a request for comment, nor did Bell Media.
However, Winder felt that Wendy’s campaign was “probably a bit shallow”.  Dove, he said, was “deeper and more serious.”
“However, both brands seem a bit opportunistic, like they’re taking advantage of what’s hot this week and what’s hot this week, and it looks like they’re trying hard,” he said.
Meanwhile, Joanne McNeish felt that Wendy’s campaign didn’t make much sense because the brand had never been associated with age or gray hair.
“With Wendy’s, it’s going to sink like a rock,” said the associate professor of marketing at Metropolitan Toronto University.
“It doesn’t cost them a lot to do it, but they could have been a lot smarter about how they did it.”
However, he noted that Dove has long been associated with these issues and has campaigned for gray hair for 15 years.
“These campaigns work best when there’s a relationship and a foundation for the work you’re doing and the cause you’re supporting,” he said.
But associating a brand with any hot news story has both risks and benefits, he warned.
Companies can easily get attention for their brands that can translate into sales when a campaign really resonates with customers, but such ads also open companies up to a new level of scrutiny.
“There’s really a real art to understanding how to respond to these situations because sometimes these are really great bonus situations where you get a big boost in awareness, and maybe some sales, or it can be devastating if you find out later or there’s another part of the matter that wasn’t so clear to you,” McNeese said.
Companies need look no further than Pepsi to see the risks, Winder added.
The soda giant ran an ad in 2017 with model and “Keeping up with the Kardashians” star Kendall Jenner joining a protest and defusing the tension by handing a police officer a Pepsi.
Many saw the ad as trivializing the Black Lives Matter movement.
“So it’s very high risk,” Winder said.  “It might resonate (and be) very popular for some people, and some people might see it as opportunistic and a little cheesy.”
Companies that take the risk need to be quick and commit to the moment before the zeitgeist lets go or other brands beat them to it, McNeish said.
“There’s only room for a few to really get the big payoff for association… so you have to be prepared to deal with these situations.”
CP24 is a division of Bell Media.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 26, 2022.