Days before the 2009 Calgary Stampede is set to burst out of the gate July 3, Calgary’s two daily newspapers have rejected anti-calf roping ads from the Vancouver Humane Society.
However, the city’s free weekly newspaper, Fast Forward, will run the ads this week, said its publisher Ian Chiclos.
“I know the ad will be critical of the Stampede and the Stampede is a great event for this city, but I think we should allow dissenting voices. Newspapers shouldn’t censor advertising unless it is illegal or harmful.”
The ad, which will appear in the July 2 issue of Fast Forward, includes a direct reference to the Stampede and shows a cowboy in the process of roping and wrestling a calf.
The text declares that this is “no way to treat a baby. It’s time to ban calf roping.”
Debra Probert, executive director of the Vancouver Humane Society, said the ad was revamped to remove reference to the Calgary Stampede, but was still refused by the two dailies.
She said the Herald declined to give a reason for its decision, while the Sun told the society “they didn’t share the ad’s opinion.”
Dal Lewis, assistant director of sales and advertising for the Sun, told Marketing it is clearly stated in the newspaper’s rate cards that it has the right to reject any ad, but added the decision not to run the ad is being “sensationalized.”
Probert said the society is currently negotiating with two unnamed Calgary radio stations about the possibility of running anti-calf roping spots.
Ironically, the Vancouver group’s anti-calf roping stance is reaping huge amounts of free publicity, including an article in The Globe and Mail and appearances by society spokesman Peter Fricker on Calgary talk radio shows.
All rodeo events at the Stampede, including calf roping, are monitored by both the Calgary Humane Society and the Alberta SPCA.
Neither organization has so far joined the Vancouver society in calling for a calf roping ban.
The VHS was instrumental in getting the Cloverdale Rodeo, the largest in B.C., to eliminate roping events in 2007.
