Uber Eats will apparently remove a scene from its Super Bowl ad that depicts a man having an allergic reaction to peanut butter, following backlash from some consumers and food allergy advocates — a sticky situation that brand experts say could have been avoided.
The ad starts with a production assistant handing Jennifer Aniston a bag of fresh flowers, lotions and other goodies in a green Uber Eats bag. “I didn’t know you could get all this stuff on Uber Eats,” the woman says. “I gotta remember that.”
“Well, you know what they say,” Aniston responds, tapping her noggin. “In order to remember something, you’ve got to forget something else. Make a little room.”
It’s the setup for a procession of different characters — some celebrities, some not — who forget something significant just so they can remember how much you can order through Uber Eats.
Then comes a seconds-long scene in which a man reads the ingredients on a peanut butter jar while waving a spoon around, one eye swollen shut and hives breaking out all over his forehead: “There’s peanuts in peanut butter?”
“Oh, it’s the primary ingredient,” he says, nodding, mid-anaphylaxis. The ad was released online, ahead of Sunday’s big game.
WATCH | Uber Eats asks consumers not to forget them in new ad: [embedded content]
Food allergy advocates didn’t find it very funny.
The Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) said Friday it was “surprised and disappointed” to see Uber Eats joking about “the disease of life-threatening food allergy.”
The non-profit group’s CEO, Sung Poblete, said later in a note she had spoken with the company, and that it was cutting the scene.
Others also wondered why a food delivery company with allergy-friendly options would joke about an allergic reaction.
“It appears to us that Uber Eats doesn’t understand this consumer base because if they did, they wouldn’t have [chosen] to add this to their clip,” Jennifer Gerdts, the executive director of Food Allergy Canada, said of the original version.
“I think that for the food-allergic community, they’re going to look at this and go, ‘Uber Eats doesn’t understand me.'”
Uber Eats did not respond to multiple requests for comment from CBC News.
An Uber Eats courier rides through Kyiv, Ukraine in 2019. The company is working to expand from delivering food to other items. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
‘Not a smart thing’
“When it comes to humour, a brand really needs to identify what’s the sandbox they’re willing to play in, and what is and isn’t funny to them,” said Aleena Mazhar Kuzma, senior vice-president and managing director at Fuse Create, a Toronto-based advertising agency.
“And I think for Uber Eats, food shouldn’t be funny. It’s the thing that they most service to consumers, so making a joke out of it is not a smart thing to do.”
Kuzma said she thought the commercial was otherwise funny and effective, noting that the brand is trying to move away from its reputation as a food-only service to a delivery company that can do it all.
Brands like Bud Light and Pepsi have weathered ad-related backlash in recent years that alienated parts of their consumer base. Bud Light, which became a flashpoint in the culture wars last year for its campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, is trying to recover from an ensuing double-digit sales slump.
WATCH | How Bud Light mishandled the backlash:
How Bud Light mishandled the Dylan Mulvaney backlash
8 months ago
Duration 2:17
Bud Light’s hiring of trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney prompted conservative backlash, but the company’s handling of that backlash led to even more criticism from the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
And in 2017, Pepsi infamously pulled an ad with reality star and model Kendall Jenner after a tidal wave of criticism and mockery. The ad showed Jenner offering a police officer a can of Pepsi during a protest meant to evoke the decade’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
Kuzma pointed to other instances where a brand’s risk-taking might take off. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream “is a great example of a really political brand that takes a lot of risk, and what they talk about, and they’re OK with it alienating small communities,” she said.
For instance, in 2020 the left-leaning company released a vegan ice cream in honour of Colin Kaepernick, the NFL quarterback who had earlier been embroiled in controversy for refusing to stand during the U.S. national anthem.
But for brands like Bud Light and Uber Eats, which are aiming for mass appeal, “you really have to come out with a message that has this sort of universal human insight,” she added.
“You want everyone to always think of you as a brand that can serve them and service them, and when you start to chip away at that — like with this one tiny scene — it chips away at that, where a group of people don’t think you’re for them.”
There’s a long precedent of Super Bowl ads being re-edited or removed after public criticism — or in anticipation of that criticism.
A Pepsi ad that touched on the Black Lives Matter demonstrations of the 2010s was quickly pulled amid a tidal wave of criticism and mockery. (Pepsi)
In fact, Uber Eats might not be the only company scrambling to fix an ad before this Sunday’s Super Bowl. Online gambling website FanDuel is reportedly re-editing a commercial that features the late actor and football player Carl Weathers, who died earlier this month.
Other instances include a 2011 spot by vacation rental company HomeAway called “Test Baby,” which featured a rubber baby being thrown against the window of a maternity ward. Some viewers felt it glorified violence against toddlers, which prompted its CEO to apologize and run a re-edited version of the ad in which the baby is caught.
Or in 2015, when a GoDaddy commercial that showed a puppy fall off a truck and wander his way home only to be sold by its owner, which led to backlash from animal rights groups.
A Change.org petition with 42,000 signatures calling for that ad’s removal was the writing on the wall.
The Super Bowl is “a really big stage to take such a big risk when you didn’t need to take the risk,” said Kuzma.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.
The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.
Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.
Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Masrani, who will retire officially on April 10, 2025, says the bank’s, “anti-money laundering challenges,” took place on his watch and he takes full responsibility.
The bank named Raymond Chun, TD’s group head, Canadian personal banking, as his successor.
As part of a transition plan, Chun will become chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over the top job when Masrani steps down at the bank’s annual meeting next year.
TD also announced that Riaz Ahmed, group head, wholesale banking and president and CEO of TD Securities, will retire at the end of January 2025.
TD has taken billions in charges related to ongoing U.S. investigations into the failure of its anti-money laundering program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
