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Defending TD’s Pride T&A

By Jaime Woo

2008_07_02_TD.jpg
On Monday’s edition of Stars & Dogs, BNN personality Kim Parlee wondered if TD Canada Trust’s use of attractive and muscular models armed only with water guns, green briefs, and temporary tattoos of the bank’s logo, was too risqué for the Canadian institution. (Blogs show a mix of support and jeers for the marketing tactic.) It’s an interesting question: where should a company with a market cap of over $51 billion draw the line on decency? Nudity, as with all things, depends on the context.
Pride is essentially a large block party set during a hot, sunny June weekend that has a dress code equal to that of a beach. In addition to Hardline and Trojan, large corporations Motorola, Rogers (in the form of subsidiary Fido), and Procter and Gamble (for its brand Crest) were trying to get a piece of the action with their own models in skimpy attire. It’s the culture of Pride: at the rodeo, a cowboy hat with a pair of blue jeans is the cultural uniform, and at Pride, it’s sunglasses, briefs, and alternating between smiles and pouts. From a business sense, TD Canada Trust had smartly gauged its target audience and reached out to it successfully: even NOW’s Susan G. Cole gave props for the eye candy.
Another sign that TD Canada Trust hadn’t overstepped any boundaries: the stock market. The Monday after Pride, shares of TD Canada Trust were up over a percent compared to their peers’, which were negative or flat for the day. Sure, Pride probably didn’t boost TD Canada Trust on the TSX, but it didn’t hurt the bank either. Obviously, investors are worried about other things than the patrons of Pride getting a kick out of half-naked gym bunnies.
It could have been worse: TD Canada Trust could have pretended that Pride was like any other festival and had volunteers in dreary cotton-blend tees and jeans handing out brochures, whitewashing Pride so that it was no different from a county fair or a business convention. This wasn’t TD Canada Trust’s first year using the scantily-clad models; let’s hope it wasn’t the last either.
Photo by Daily Misery from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

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  • David Toronto

    The T-D people were clad in the same
    way last year also. So what makes
    this year’s Pride different.
    If the T-D employees were on the beach, nobody
    would give a second glance except admiringly.
    Transplant them to Church Street during Pride
    street fair and they’re not outrageously
    attired like some of the passers-by.
    So, what’s the fuss except that created by
    a minion at BNN?

  • toronno

    Yes, no complaints about those boys! And kudos to TD for their late and weekend hours. It’s nice to see a bank that isn’t afraid to give their customers a chance to actually interact with real bank employees rather than a half-interested voice on the phone.

  • Jill Murray

    Next year: water guns, green briefs, tattoos and *ties*.

  • AdamSchwabe

    You know it really pisses me off when people are slagging corporations for getting involved in Pride. It’s so short-sighted to think that the only reason they have a float in the parade is because they want to drum up some sales.
    I’m not disputing that it *is* a reason, but companies like TD are making HUGE steps to make sure they’re the most inclusive they can be with regards to current and prospective employees.
    Until you work for an employer where you’re not sure if it’s ok to be out at work or not, you really don’t realize the benefit to working somewhere (like I do) like IBM where they truly value diversity in their ranks. There’s a number of out execs in the company and I’ve met some of my best friends through being involved with the GLBT employee group. (Also marched in last year’s parade with them!)
    So next time you decide to sling mud at a company for being involved in Pride, think about what it actually means for them to be involved compared to how things were 15-30 years ago.

  • joeclark

    It’s amazing how few people can actually spell Procter & Gamble correctly.

  • David Topping
  • rek

    It’s not amazing at all, as Procter isn’t exactly a common name and the company is widely known (visually) as “P&G” due to its wordmark.
    But I suppose “you spelled Procter and Gamble wrong” just wouldn’t have done the job for you.