‘Clown lives matter’ joke backfires for Ontario auto shop

[An auto shop in London, Ont., thought a parody of Black Lives Matter would be a lark. Twitter/@DaleatLFPress]

Several businesses and organizations in Ontario are in hot water after their attempts at being funny backfired on social media.

On Monday, Napa AutoPro on Wellington Road in London posted the phrase “Clown Lives Matter,” on its leaderboard outside.

The auto repair shop’s supervisor told the London Free Press it was meant to be a joke referencing the phenomenon of creepy clown sightings across North America, which struck the southwestern Ontario city on Oct. 6 in the form of an online threat.

But under fire on Twitter and Facebook, the company removed the unpopular message on Wednesday.

“At VIP AutoPro, we try to convey a humorous message and this one missed the mark,” the company posted on the London Free Press’s Facebook page. “It was not our intent to offend and we have taken down the sign and will take better care to ensure this does not happen in the future.”

Napa AutoPro isn’t the only one whose attempts at humour failed. To encourage locals to adopt cats, the Windsor/Essex County Humane Society posted an ad on its Facebook page on Wednesday morning, saying “You don’t have to be a star to grab a pussy…cat.”

The line referenced the lewd remark caught on video in 2005 made by U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump that surfaced earlier this month.

After angry online reaction criticizing the ad as “vulgar” and “tasteless,” the humane society pulled the ad by lunch hour the same day.

Last week, Toronto’s La Carnita also tried to be witty sharing a photo of its signature tacos on Instagram with the photo caption “What if Donald said, ‘grab her by the taco…’”

That post was yanked almost immediately with the taco chain owner Andrew Richmond issuing an apology on Facebook and informing the public its staff would take sensitivity training and that a portion of its food sales would be donated to a charity working to stop violence against women.

One expert says these are disturbing associations for companies to make.

“Comparing the clown figure with an urgent social and political cause is very upsetting emotionally,” says Marcel Danesi, an anthropology professor at the University of Toronto, in an emailed response. “I cannot see anybody laughing at this — it’s like putting together musical sounds that are dissonant, evoking a discordant chord within us.”

The same goes for the “grab her by the taco” line.

“The current political campaign in the U.S. is also very troubling,” Danesi says. “The slogan would repel both those who support Trump and those who do not.”