Pincourt sues Canadian Tire over pothole commercial

A television commercial poking fun at potholes in the Quebec town of Pincourt has turned into a $65,000 lawsuit against retail giant Canadian Tire.

While such legal cases usually involve a person or business being wronged, in this case the lawsuit claims the town’s reputation was damaged because the ad suggested Pincourt is full of potholes.

A court will decide in August whether Pincourt was defamed. But one of the side effects of the legal action is fame of a different kind, putting the small town on the outskirts of Montreal on the map.

The dispute started in the spring because of a French TV ad in Quebec. While Canadian Tire often uses humour in its commercials, Pincourt officials weren’t laughing.

The commercial opens with the name of the town over a snowy backdrop that includes a shot of Cardinal-Léger Boulevard, one of the town’s main roads. Over and over, the commercial shows the reaction of drivers as they hit potholes.

“Here, the winters are hard. And that means potholes. Many potholes,” the announcer says. “That’s why our mechanics use the best equipment to identify all the little noises that your vehicle makes when you bring it here, in Pincourt.”

Town officials said they were prepared to answer Yahoo Canada News’, but failed to respond before deadline.

Pincourt director general Michel Perrier told the Montreal Gazette, which first reported the story, that the town is suing because Canadian Tire did not alter or pull the commercial after the town complained.

“They were describing our roads like it was a Swiss-cheese type of thing. That you would drive there and the end result would be that your car would get broken and that’s when Canadian Tire comes to the rescue,” Perrier told the paper. “It was a very negative publicity towards the town.”

In April, a Canadian Tire marketing official told the town the ad wasn’t specific to Pincourt and acknowledged only one street in Pincourt was actually filmed for the ad, the Gazette reported. The rest of the footage came from different municipalities.

Canadian Tire did not respond to calls and emails from Yahoo Canada News.

Pincourt is seeking $40,000 in moral damages and $25,000 in punitive damages under Quebec’s Civil Code.

One marketing expert said the publicity from the case is worth more than the amount of the lawsuit to both the town and the corporation.

“There’s a saying that any news is goods news — I’m not sure that’s the case, but there’s a bit of tongue in cheek as any town is going to have potholes,” said David Soberman, a marketing professor at the University of Toroto’s Rotman School of Management.

But he also added that there is the serious matter of the town’s identification.

“The real issue is they do identify the town quite clearly. Canadian Tire has admitted that they didn’t film the entire thing there and could create a false impression. They should have filmed the entire thing there or perhaps just made up a name — use a bit of creativity so it doesn’t look like the actual town.”

As for the courts and what they will do, at least the amount that they are being sued for is not a huge amount. It’s not $1 million.”

While the town didn’t get the joke in the commercial, folks on social media found it funny.

“…And Pincourt proves they have nothing better to waste their time on,” wrote Estoban Vargas.

Tom Kott of Montreal quipped: “A town full of potholes is suing Canadian Tire for suggesting it has a lot of potholes.”

Pincourt officials have said part of their concern is that possible investors or businesses looking for a place to locate, might get the wrong impression and bypass the town of just over 14,000, which is tucked just off Highway 20 on the island of Île Perrot near the western tip of the island of Montreal.

They say their infrastructure is in good shape as they invest significant funds in their annual road maintenance campaign, which includes pothole repairs.

Because it is on the outskirts of Montreal, Pincourt is not often in the news – unless you include a recent piece about a man being shot in the hand in his driveway. There was another piece about a man fined for using his Apple Watch to skip songs while driving.

There was also the announcement recently that Pincourt is planning to build a $4.5-million municipal public works facility next to its fire hall to house heavy equipment. Apart from that, the latest news on the town’s website consisted of recipes for swordfish and previously an update on a barbecue recipe.

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