PR PUSH IN PROGRESS OVER QUEBEC MARGARINE REGULATIONS
By Adnews Staff
There is a battle for the hearts and minds of margarine eaters underway in Quebec. Unilever Canada Ltd., by way of its operating company, Thomas J. Lipton, along with Ault Foods Ltd. and Margarine Thibault Inc., is running a full-court press against the government of Quebec and the influential Quebec dairy industry in an effort to repeal restrictive legislation on the manufacturing and marketing of margarine in that province. As part of a broad government initiative designed to harmonize inter-provincial trade regulations, a public comment period has been underway for more than a month as to whether or not existing color requirements for margarine should be scrapped. For years, margarine has not been allowed to be sold in Quebec if it is the same color as butter. Quebec is the only place in the world where this stipulation exists, according to Unilever and its allies, which has made it necessary to go through much extra time and expense to produce Quebec-only margarine. Furthermore, Unilever maintains that its consumer studies have consistently shown that butter-colored margarine is much preferred to the government-approved pale white and neon yellow shades. Other regulations Unilever hopes to see scrapped include several which restrict the marketing of margarine, such as the ban on the use of dairy images on packaging and in ads, the ban on head-to-head comparisons between butter and margarine in advertisements, and restrictions on placing margarine next to butter on supermarket shelves. The public comment period ends this Friday. Yesterday, Unilever and allies ran full-page ads in major Quebec daily papers which "promote the removal of inter-provincial trade barriers while giving consumers the freedom to enjoy margarine in the color of their choice," as a release puts it. The ads were created by Unilever's public relations firm, The Martland Group of Toronto, which is handling the margarine-producers' public lobbying efforts. Sean McPhee, general manager of Martland, told Adnews yesterday that they are "not done yet." A decision from the Quebec government could come as soon as March or April.