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By Alice McFarlane

Beef with A&W

Producers beyond angry at A&W campaign involving Riders

Sep 19, 2019 | 3:28 PM

A recent A&W advertisement filmed at the July 20 Saskatchewan Roughrider football game outside Mosaic Stadium raised the ire of some cattle producers who felt the burger chain was leveraging the beloved Roughrider brand to promote plant-based burgers

Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) General Manager Chad MacPherson said a campaign promoting A&W’s Beyond Meat burgers began airing Sept. 9.

“Not long after it aired they (Riders) started getting feedback from producers that were concerned about the Riders involvement and where disappointed with having their brand associated with the product,” MacPherson said. “Earlier this week we reached out to the Roughriders to see if we could sit down and have a meeting to get a better understanding of how it unfolded and what their involvement in the whole process was. As a result, within 24 hours of our request we sat down with officials from the team and had [a]really open and frank conversation.”

MacPherson said they got a better understanding and were able to dispel some myths and set the record straight on what actually was happening and what their involvement was in the production of the video.

“As a result they issued a statement to us to share with beef producers across the province just to be able to communicate what the truth was,” MacPherson said. “It was just an explanation they had no direct involvement in the production of the video and that they’re not endorsing one product over the other. A&W is a corporate sponsor. With that they have the ability to use (Rider) trademarks and they weren’t aware of the sensitivities around the subject prior to the video being filmed.”

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MacPherson said he was pleased the Riders organization was open and willing to talk adding it was good for them to put out their side of the story and set the record straight.

“The Riders are supportive of all agriculture. We’re planning to meet with them more and have some additional conversations to see how we can work together,” he said.

MacPherson said the Riders were taken off guard by the backlash they received so they were receptive to getting a better understanding.

“I think most producers are just pleased that they were open to meeting with us and that they were pleased to hear that the Riders are not picking sides in the discussion and that they’re willing to meeting with us and have additional conversations going forward. We just really appreciate the Riders’ willingness to sit down and talk and look forward to further dialogue with them and see where the conversation leads.”

SSGA met with team officials on two occasions with another meeting scheduled for next week, once the senior leadership team get back from the bye week.

MacPherson added SSGA did not ask for a formal apology but asked for the organization to issue a statement SSGA could share with cattle producers.

You can see the letter here.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF