Alberta, Ontario use curling champs in online beer battle

ALSA video aims at getting the facts out, targets ‘attack ads’ from eastern province

An online battle is brewing between two Canadian liquor giants — and somehow, curling champions are being brought into the fight as well.

The Alberta Liquor Store Association (ALSA) is taking aim at an Ontario Beer Store social media campaign for spreading “fake facts” about Alberta’s liquor industry. Ontario Beer Store’s campaign features a video series hosted by world curling champion Glenn Howard, who introduces himself as the manager of a Beer Store in Midland, Ont. On Wednesday, ALSA launched its own counter-campaign, Alberta Rocks, featuring provincial curling champion Brendan Bottcher from Sherwood Park.

“At the end of the day, we wanted to get the facts out there but also wanted to have a little bit of fun. Not only do we have better liquor stores here in Alberta, we have better curling teams,” says ALSA president Ivonne Martinez.

In one Ontario Beer Store video, Howard is seen arriving at the Calgary International Airport and visiting downtown liquor stores. He compares the prices of various beers to the prices found in Ontario for the same brew. “I found a sixpack of Mill Street Organic. This is $3 more expensive here than it is in Ontario,” Howard says to the camera. He adds that Alberta’s liquor delivery service is like “patchwork” across the province, unlike Ontario’s efficient system.

“They seem to cherry-pick the statistics between Alberta and Ontario to fit the narrative that they have a better system than we do,” says Martinez.

“The Beer Store is owned by national brewers, Labatts and Molson. National brewers, just like any manufacturer, set the price for their products for each province. The price has nothing to do with the distribution model, the price is set by Molson themselves, which set a higher price for their beer in Alberta.”

ALSA’s video shows Bottcher discussing Alberta’s liquor industry with Big Brother Canada star Chelsea Bird while they shop at a liquor store. The two go back and forth, comparing prices, laws and the selection of beer.

“I’m so glad we have over 26,000 options, including over 7,000 beer types,” says Bird as she piles more alcohol on Bottcher’s growing stack.

Martinez says Ontario’s beer selection is limited to under 2,000.

“We don’t have the government telling us what we should be drinking.”

The Beer Store’s campaign comes after Ontario’s provincial government announced intentions to expand beer and wine sales into corner stores, big box stores and more grocery stores in March. Since Alberta’s liquor industry is the only fully privatized system in the country, it’s an easy target for “attack ads,” says Martinez.

But she still doesn’t think it’s fair they ran a campaign directly targeting Alberta.

Cue their own campaign. “We wanted to make sure we used some of the same mediums they’re using to get the word out. We’re using a fun, cheeky video to get the facts about Alberta liquor out there.”

They seem to cherry-pick the statistics between Alberta and Ontario to fit the narrative that they have a better system than we do.