B.C. salmon farmers have launched a $1.5 million advertising campaign to change the way the public views their controversial industry.
The campaign, called BCSalmonFacts, includes TV spots, print ads, a website and forum and Twitter and Facebook pages.
Mary Ellen Walling, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, told Business in Vancouver the campaign is designed to target Lower Mainlanders who might not understand the industry or know where their seafood comes from.
She also said the industry has made major leaps toward sustainability in recent years in response to critics who claim the industry poses a major threat to wild salmon stocks.
“We listened to some of the critics of the industry and some of the scientists and others and worked really hard to address public concerns and other concerns,” said Walling. “As we were doing that we realized our communications didn’t quite keep pace with the amount of change that was happening in the salmon farming industry.
Salmon farmers such as Marine Harvest Canada, Mainstream Canada, Grieg Seafood and feed suppliers EWOS Canada and Skretting are behind the BCSalmonFacts campaign.
Heavyweight advertiser DDB Canada has been hired to run the strategy.
Its previous work in the province includes the BC Dairy “must drink more milk” campaign.
Grieg spokeswoman Mia Parker said the campaign is an attempt for the industry to become more proactive with its messaging.
“We recognize that really were a bunch of fish farmers and biologists and communications is not out forte,” said Parker. “I think that’s the real reason for doing this, and a lot of it was [a] response to farm staff who were saying, why don’t they ever hear our side of this?”
For more about the campaign, including what environmental groups think of it, check out this week’s edition of BIV.