Labatt threatens to sue Montreal Gazette over Magnotta Labatt Blue Beer pic - spawns hashtag twitterlanche

dabitch's picture
Posted by dabitch on 5. June 2012 - 20:57

Over at Labatt someone in legal threatened to sue the Montreal Gazette over a photo they used where the kitty-killer and (alleged but probably hell yeah) corpse-defiling cannibal Magnotta enjoys a Labatts Blue in the picture.

Now, this group of legal eagles probably never heard about the Streisand effect, clearly, and the result of their repeated requests to the Montreal Gazette to remove the image has spawned the twitter hastag #newlabattcampaign where all kinds of morbid jokes are now making Blue the beer choice for crazy cannibals worldwide. Tssk tssk. The twitterlanche of Labatt Blue cannibal jokes seems to never end. What this has become is a great case study of what not to do when trying to disassociate our brand from the bad guys.

"This Beer's for You. And the Voices in Your Head." - @EmmMacfarlane

UPDATE Labatt has dropped their request.

Labatt: "Once Gazette explained position, we promptly thanked them for their response, dropped the matter. We will not be following up."

#newlabattcampaign funny tweets

the hilarious tweets in #newlabattcampaign

Storified by Åsk Dabitch · Tue, Jun 05 2012 15:59:34

#newlabattcampaign I would give an arm and a leg for Labatt BlueABasu
Stay bloodthirsty, my friends. #newlabattcampaignAndrew Coyne
Labatt Blue: All Beer, No Head. #newlabattcampaignBrian Alkerton
Labatt Blue: Tastes great, less filling, and won't cost you an arm and a leg. #newlabattcampaignCC
Now in a convenient twist off! #NewLabattCampaignD-Fiddy
Blue Light: Tastes great, less killing. #newlabattcampaignTravis Cowdy
"Recommended by four out of five cannibals!" #newlabattcampaignDan Delmar
Labatt Blue. For when you want a cold one. And our lawyers told us to tell you that we're just referring to the beer, ok?#newlabattcampaignM. Derbecker
1 lunatic 1 ice pick 1 good taste #newlabattcampaignpoutch
The #newlabattcampaign is rather tasteless. Sort of like Labatt Blue, come to think of it.Sheryl Kirby

Warren Kinsella even retweeted a joke from Ont PC's Rocco Rossi that Rossi deleted soon after tweetage.

Blue. Not just the colour of corpses anymore. ‪#newlabattcampaign‬

One tweeter jokes that it isn't the first time Labatt has used decapitated bodies in ads, point out this old campaign from twelve years ago.

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Submitted by kidsleepy on 5. June 2012 - 21:20.
kidsleepy's picture

What I really want to know is, how come no one is pointing out that the hashtag was created by a journalist for the National Post? Making fun of Labatt Blue, in the wake of one of canada's most grizzly crimes in a very long while. Is this really proper behavior for a journalist?

Submitted by dabitch on 5. June 2012 - 21:54.
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National Post columnist Andrew Coyne's 1st joke that started the avalanche...

I don’t always drink beer after dismembering a corpse, but when I do, I drink Blue. #newlabattcampaign

Submitted by AnonymousCoward2 (not verified) on 5. June 2012 - 22:48.
AnonymousCoward2's picture

The journalist created a hashtag for the National Post? Or did he crack a joke on twitter while he is employed as a journalist at the National Post?

Submitted by Mark@Postbox (not verified) on 6. June 2012 - 4:33.
Mark@Postbox's picture

It makes you wonder whether this was staged by Labatt... What's the saying... any advertising is good advertising. But I don't think so, judging by the fact they dropped the matter now that it's gotten out of... hand.

Submitted by AnonymousBastard (not verified) on 6. June 2012 - 17:25.
AnonymousBastard's picture

when you’re done crackin’ skulls, crack yourself open a Blue.

Submitted by sport on 6. June 2012 - 17:26.
sport's picture

Labatt did not stage this, unless they also paid that journalist to spend hours of his working day cracking beer tagline jokes under the #newlabattcampaign hashtag.

Submitted by AnonymousCoward (not verified) on 7. June 2012 - 17:03.
AnonymousCoward's picture

Seems to me someone was a bit too keen in the legal department.

Submitted by dabitch on 8. June 2012 - 0:23.
dabitch's picture

Hang on, that's not a bad idea. I'll crack twitter-jokes all day if someone pays me. Anyone? Bueller? Oh wait, I already do.

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