It’s time for us to show the Bank of Montreal (BMO) the red card for their ongoing work with TBWA\Canada – one of the agencies that has been locking out ACTRA commercial performers for over four years.
Last week, ACTRA National Council unanimously voiced its condemnation of BMO and its ongoing national advertising campaign. Council members have had enough of seeing these commercials, particularly ever-present during the World Cup broadcasts, which continues to exclude ACTRA performers while presenting itself with proudly Canadian branding.
ACTRA National Council proclaims that BMO’s current advertising campaign cannot claim to be aligned with Canadian values due to its support of the crippling lockout of unionized Canadian performers. While BMO promotes national pride in its branding and around the Canadian National Soccer Team, its current campaign work is being produced outside of ACTRA’s National Commercial Agreement (NCA), resulting in the exclusion of ACTRA performers and seeing the casting of American performers in the role of Canadians.
If left unaddressed, situations like this will only normalize non-union commercial production in Canada and undermine ACTRA’s ongoing fight to regain our jurisdiction over commercial production.
WANT TO TELL BMO WHY YOU’RE GIVING THEM A RED CARD?
Got time for a quick email? Tell BMO’s President and CEO Darryl White and their Head of Media Relations John Fenton exactly why you’re giving their bank a red card: darryl.white@bmo.com and john.fenton@bmo.com
Want to go old school? You can mail a letter directly to Darryl here:
Darryl White
President and CEO, BMO Financial Group
100 King Street West, 28th Floor,
Toronto, ON
M5X 1A1
Need some help with the script? Feel free to use some or all of the following:
Dear Darryl White – President and CEO, BMO,
I am writing to urge BMO to end its relationship with TBWA\Canada unless the agency returns to ACTRA’s National Commercial Agreement, or to move your advertising business to an agency that respects Canadian performers and homegrown jobs in Canada.
As a Canadian and an ACTRA member, I am disappointed that BMO, proudly known as the Official Bank of Canada Soccer, is promoting Canadian pride while its advertising campaign continues to exclude Canadian ACTRA performers. Instead, the campaign features American actors, while Canadian performers remain locked out of commercial work because of the ongoing labour dispute between ACTRA and agencies like TBWA\Canada.
This sends the wrong message at a time when Canadians are being encouraged to support Canadian workers, Canadian businesses, and Canadian jobs.
The solution is simple: encourage TBWA\Canada to return to ACTRA’s National Commercial Agreement or move your advertising business to a reputable agency that hires Canadian ACTRA performers.
I urge BMO to demonstrate its commitment to Canada by ensuring its advertising reflects the values it promotes. Until that time, I am not willing to give any of my further financial services to BMO and will share this with my friends and family who support Canadian jobs.
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Want to let BMO know how you feel in real time? Below are the handles for their various social media platforms, along their official partner Canada Soccer, and ours as well.
@bmocanada (Instagram) | @BMOCommunity (Facebook) | @BMO (X)
@canadasoccer (Instagram and Facebook) | @CanadaSoccerEN (X)
@actranational (All platforms)
Need some “BOO-MO” inspiration? Feel free to use the templates below on their posts and comments sections.
Never realized ‘the BMO Effect’ was making Canadian jobs disappear. Hey @bmocanada giving you the Red Card and won’t trust you with my finances until you hire Canadian actors to play Canadians and your ad agency stops locking our professional @actranational actors!
More like Boo-MO! Found out today that BMO is hiring American actors to play Canadians in their commercials and their ad agency is LOCKING OUT professional Canadian @actranational performers! Red Card for you @bmocanada
Wait… this whole time I’ve been watching “The BMO Guy” wearing a @canadasoccer jersey and he’s an AMERICAN actor? All because @bmocanada uses an ad agency locking out professional Canadian actors for over FOUR YEARS??? Way to treat your Canadian customers right. I’m BMOut.
Guess “elbows up” doesn’t count if you’re a bank? @bmocanada out here hiring American actors to play Canadians in ads while the rest of us are checking where our groceries were made. AND supporting a four-year lockout of Canadian actors?! My future banking choices just got a whole lot easier. #BNO
Hey @bmocanada – nice “sportswashing.” How can you be the Official Bank of @canadasoccer while the actor you hired in your commercials is American?! AND while your ad agency is locking out @actranational performers? That’s not how Canadians support each other and I won’t be supporting your services.