RCC WANTS DIMETAPP AD PULLED
By Adnews Staff
The Retail Council of Canada has sent a letter to Malcolm Seath president of Whitehall-Robins Inc., based in Mississauga, Ontario, urging him to pull a recently launched television commercial for the company's cold remedy. The spot is part of a new advertising campaign for Whitehall-Robins' Dimetapp brand and was created by Young & Rubicam of Toronto. The ad in question features a thief crashing into a store window in a "smash and grab" robbery scene. Toronto-based RCC states in its letter that the robbery scene depicted in the spot is a growing contributor to the $2.5 million worth of goods stolen daily from Canadian retailers based on the council's research. "Glamorizing this sort of criminal behavior under the guise of humor is a slap in the face of retailers and their employees everywhere - especially the thousands of merchants on whom you depend to sell Dimetapp," Randy Scotland, vice president of communications and public relations for RCC said in the letter. The council ended its letter by urging Seath to "pull this particular commercial off the air immediately." Calls to Whitehall-Robins were not returned by press time.