A Budweiser Canada ad featuring NHL players of color speaking candidly about experiencing racism in hockey has become one of the most popular campaigns in the brand’s history, drawing nearly 200 million earned traditional and social impressions over the weekend, the beer maker said.
The campaign, titled #TapeOutHate, was conceived by Anomaly and done in partnership with the Hockey Diversity Alliance, a group aimed at making the overwhelmingly white sport more inclusive. The HDA was founded by current and former NHL players in the summer of 2020, shortly after the killing of George Floyd.
"Campaigns like these, they’re going to be uncomfortable," Budweiser Canada senior marketing director Mike D’Agostini told Ad Age. "But we need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable because we believe by doing that, that’s how we grow, that’s how we change."