Dairy Farmers of Canada pulls print ad following complaints
It turns out that the Dairy Farmers of Canada‘s new “Honest. Canadian. Dairy” campaign wasn’t entirely accurate. According to a CTV News report, the advocacy group has pulled one of the campaign’s ads after complaints to Advertising Standards Canada (ASC) that it was misleading.
According to the report, the complaints are based on a print ad featuring an image of a Canadian dairy farmer, accompanied by the words “There are zero growth hormones in milk produced in Canada. Like, none.”
CTV said that an animal rights group suggested that people contact the ASC to point out that milk actually contains a natural growth hormone. The report quoted one complainant, a Toronto vegan, as also saying that she dislikes the way the industry treats animals.
Danielle Lefrancois, communications director with Ad Standards in Montreal, told The Message that the organization has closed the file on the complaint since DFC pulled the ad in question “right away” upon being contacted by Ad Standards. Just one complaint is enough to lead the organization to contact advertisers, she said, which “very often” leads to advertisers pulling the ad.
The campaign, developed by DDB Canada, was targeting millennials in an effort to get them to increase their milk intake. Neither DDB or Dairy Farmers of Canada responded to requests for comment.
Apple showcases NHLers photography skills
The accompanying picture was taken not by a sports journalist or nearby fan, but by Edmonton Oilers forward Milan Lucic. On his iPhone.
It’s part of a new NHL extension for Apple‘s “Shot on iPhone Challenge.” Apple just revealed the 10 winning photographs, with the selected photos running on billboards and other channels (see them here).
The tech giant has also introduced a handful of “Shot on iPhone” photos taken by NHL players that will be used around the arenas of the featured teams, including Edmonton and the Ottawa Senators.
It will be the closest either franchise gets to glory this season.
CTV remains Canada’s most popular TV brand, Netflix climbs to #2
CTV has retained its spot as Canada’s top TV brand among people 12+, according to new research from Toronto-based Solutions Research Group (SRG). The streaming video service Netflix climbed two places to #2, while Global remained in third place and CBC slipped from second to fourth.
Canada’s two sports services, TSN and Sportsnet, also climbed in the rankings—TSN from 8th to 5th and Sportsnet from 11th to 7th—which SRG said confirms the “value and distinctiveness” of sports programming.
NBC was the top-ranked U.S. service, moving up to 6th from 14th—which SRG attributed to the renewed popularity of Saturday Night Live and new prime time shows.
HBO (which went a full year without new episodes of its mega-hit show Game of Thrones), Discovery, CBS and CNN all fell in the ratings.
CTV and Global ranked first and second respectively among women 18+, followed by Netflix, CBC and Food Network. Corus Entertainment brands accounted for half of the top 10 brands among women.
Netflix was the leading streaming service among adults 18-49, followed by YouTube in 16th, Amazon’s Prime Video (19th) and Crave (20th). The results are based on part of SRG’s quarterly Digital Life Canada study, which interviewed 1,095 Canadians.
Food Network Canada announces second Twitter series
Corus Entertainment-owned specialty service Food Network Canada is launching a second Twitter series called #DestinationDishes featuring celebrity chefs Massimo Capra, Lynn Crawford, Dustin Gallagher and Roger Mooking.
The interactive series, which runs on Food Network Canada’s official twitter feed (@FoodNeworkCA) for eight weeks beginning March 11, will show one of the four chefs preparing a meal related to a destination voted on by Twitter followers.
The short-form video series is created by Corus’ in-house social content studio so.da, and sponsored by CIBC Aventura.
This is Food Network Canada’s second excursion into short-form video content, following November’s #OneDirtyDish. That series garnered two million views and a completion rate twice that of the Twitter benchmark. It also earned more than 11 million impressions for sponsored pre-roll ads featuring Knorr bouillon products.
“Corus’ engaging social content, paired with meaningful partnerships, has created a successful format for so.da’s short-form Twitter series,” said Dervla Kelly, senior vice-president of marketing and social digital agency at Corus.
Food Network’s Twitter page will support the series with cooking tips, tricks and hacks related to each dish. Recipes from each episode will also be featured on FoodNetwork.ca.
