Tory MPs take on Timmies
Conservatives take to Twitter after coffee chain axes Enbridge ads
Tim Hortons found itself under attack on Thursday — including from prominent Conservative MPs — after the doughnut chain pulled ads by pipeline giant Enbridge from its in-store screens.
“Really, Tims?” Calgary MP Joan Crockatt asked on Twitter.
“I trust this is an error you will quickly rectify.”
On Thursday morning, the coffee-and-doughnut purveyor responded to complaints about the ads on Twitter, telling individual users: “We value your feedback and the Enbridge advertisements are no longer airing on ‘Tims TV.”’
By Thursday afternoon, the top-trending Twitter hashtag in Canada was #BoycottTims.
Michelle Rempel, another Calgary MP and Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, seemed to endorse a tweet with that hashtag, while Jason Kenney, the defence minister, offered: “I’m proud to represent thousands of constituents who work for “Enbridge & other CDN energy companies.”
Enbridge is the dominant shipper of oilsands crude and plans to build the contentious Northern Gateway pipeline to the West Coast.
“We have enjoyed working with them and respect their decision,” said Enbridge spokesman Graham White in an email.
Tim Hortons declined to comment. The spots had been airing for close to three weeks on Tims TV at more than 1,500 locations between British Columbia and Ontario. The campaign was to have lasted four weeks.
Sum Of Us, a global group that targets well-known brands, started an online petition on Wednesday afternoon pressing Tim Hortons to stop “shilling” for the oilsands industry. By the time senior Sum Of Us campaigner Emma Pullman woke up Thursday morning, the ad was taken down.
Some 28,000 people had signed the petition as of Thursday afternoon.
“Tim Hortons, though it’s not a Canadian company anymore, has built itself a really strong place in the hearts and minds of Canadians,” said Pullman.
A May 18 blog post on Enbridge’s website touts its Tims TV campaign.
“We didn’t roast the coffee beans. We didn’t stir the soup. We didn’t box up a baker’s dozen. But we did help produce that perfect Tim’s percolation. When your energy meets ours, java joy happens,” it says