Riders, Sask. stock growers meet over A&W commercial outrage

More than a few Saskatchewan Roughriders fans were seeing red after an A&W ad filmed outside Mosaic Stadium aired promoting a Beyond Meat burger.

The ad was filmed during the Roughriders’ game July 20 against the B.C. Lions. The commercial featured Roughriders fans taste-testing a new Beyond Meat burger and offering their opinions.

The ad drew outrage from fans and producers, with many claiming they felt the Roughriders were promoting the product that could impact the Saskatchewan beef industry.

Due to the amount of comments about the video, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association invited the Roughriders to a meeting earlier this week to discuss why producers were feeling the way they were and gave the team could share its side as well.

“The Rider brand is pretty synonymous with Saskatchewan and (producers) were concerned on how the Rider brand was being interpreted and leveraged to promote a product that many producers perceive as being critical of beef production,” Chad MacPherson, general manager of the association, said outside its office at Evraz Place on Wednesday.

After the meeting, the Roughriders issued a statement to the group.

In the statement, the team said it did not have any role in the production of the ad or determining what content was in it. It said A&W is a corporate sponsor of the team, so the restaurant chain had permission to film at Mosaic Stadium.

The team said it does not represent any sort of reduction in support for beef farmers around the province and it has also voiced concerns with A&W about the ad.

“There was a commitment to work together,” MacPherson said. “It was a positive first step.”

He said the initial reaction he saw to the statement was that people were pleased the team recognized why issue had been taken with the ad.

“For the most part I think people are content and just glad action was taken,” MacPherson said.

He said there was another meeting planned for next week to continue to discuss how both groups can work together to help promote and support Saskatchewan farmers.

MacPherson said there were more than 10,000 beef producers in Saskatchewan so it’s a massive part of the province’s economy.