Labatt-Montreal Gazette lawsuit threat over Magnotta photo faces blacklash

The brass at Labatt Breweries of Canada has threatened to sue the Montreal Gazette over the newspaper's use of a photo that the brewing company believes could be destructive to their brand.

In one of their early stories about the international manhunt for Magnotta, the Gazette ran a photo of the suspected killer with a bottle of Labatt Blue, one of the brewery's flagship products. The photo, which clearly displays the label and company logo, had been retrieved from Magnotta's Facebook profile.

According to The Globe and Mail, Labatt appears set to engage in legal action unless the newspaper removes the photo in question.

"As I am sure you can understand, this image is highly denigrating to our brand, and we are disturbed that this image remains on your site despite repeated requests and the many images available of this person," writes Karyn Sullivan, Labatt's associate general counsel, in a letter to the Gazette.

But as one marketing professor explains, Labatt's ruffled feathers may have put the company at risk of further exacerbating any potential damage to its brand.

"Labatt's is really drawing attention to themselves, to the extent that the number of people who would have seen this, and drawn bad conclusions about Labatt's, is less than the number of people who will now be aware of the story," according to Alan Middleton, professor at York University's Schulich School of Business. "... I think they've made it worse rather than better."

One of today's more popular Twitter hashtags just might prove Middleton's point. Since the story had been published online, many have taken to Twitter to mock the brewing company using #newlabattcampaign.

Gazette executive editor Raymond Brassard has told The Globe that the paper will not be removing the photo.

"The image originally appeared on Magnotta's personal Facebook page and on his blog and thus is newsworthy," Brassard responded. "There is no connection made between the brand and the suspect in the accompanying caption, headline or news story."

This particular image represents what has become a consistent struggle for modern day marketers: losing control of your brand images. Today's social media landscape has made it very difficult for companies to control how their products are portrayed.

"Media outlets increasingly turn to social networks such as Facebook to piece together the image of a suspect in a crime," explains Steve Ladurantaye and Susan Krashinsky in The Globe. "In an extreme case such as this, brands are in danger of becoming collateral damage — even if that damage pales in comparison to the larger story."