JEAN COMPANY ALTERS BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN
By Adnews Staff
Montreal-based Manager Jeans is attempting to defuse some controversy surrounding a national billboard campaign with some well-placed bubble gum. The campaign, with billboards in Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto, features male and female blow-up dolls with the motto, "Love is in the air," and the Manager logo. Although the Canadian Advertising Foundation's Standards Council approved the ads, which originally appeared in March, the gaping mouths on the dolls offended some observers. Martin Beauvais, creative director at Manager's agency Taxi Advertising and Design of Montreal, said the companies received about 15 complaints, with the majority coming from Edmonton. To placate the offended parties, Taxi added gum bubbles, made with pink balloons, to obscure the offending orifices last week. Manager bills itself as "the only jeans with XXX-rated stitching," to point out that its jeans are well-constructed. The company's advertising typically plays on the double meaning of XXX-rated.