TransLink’s disclaimer on Pride advertisement leads to online confusion

A very colourful ad is raising eyebrows in Vancouver, not for its support for Pride Month, but for the small print at the bottom.

The ad reads, “June is Pride Month. We fight for your rights every day.” It was purchased by Unifor Local 111, which represents Metro Vancouver bus drivers.

Morgane Oger, a longtime advocate in the 2SLGBTQ+ community, snapped a photo of the ad and posted it to social media on Thursday. In the tweet, Oger applauds the message, but says “that disclaimer though. So prominent. So…awful.”

The disclaimer reads, “The opinions expressed in the advertisement, or by the sponsor of this advertisement, do not in any way represent the opinions of, and are not endorsed by TransLink or its subsidiaries.”

“Wow,” one person commented, while another person questioned if an ad for women’s or Indigenous rights would have the same disclaimer.

Loving this @UniforTheUnion Local 111 Pride month ad on Vancouver busses today. That disclaimer though. So prominent. So…awful, @TransLink #vanpoli #Pride2022 pic.twitter.com/J9F3sMsC0x

— Morgane Oger (@MorganeOgerBC) June 2, 2022

However, according to TransLink, the company is only following policy and the “disclaimer does not represent in anyway TransLink’s position on the LGBTQAI2S+ community.”

“This is a standard boilerplate disclaimer added to all advocacy ads regardless of content. Disclaimers were added to all advocacy ads following a court decision requiring TransLink to run advocacy ads on a variety of topics, regardless of the company’s position, values, or beliefs on the topic,” TransLink told CityNews in an email.

In 2015, the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform tried to buy advertising space on Metro Vancouver buses. The ads would include images of human fetuses, and text proclaiming “ABORTION KILLS CHILDREN.”

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TransLink told the anti-abortion group it would not run the ads, which led to a major legal fight, and in 2018 the BC Court of Appeal ruled against TransLink. The case was considered a significant development in the right to freedom of expression, under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Two years later, an anti-abortion ad paid for by a Saskatchewan politician drew a large outcry from the public.

Nov 1, 2020. (Credit:Twitter/@GarnettGenuis)

Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan MP Garnett Genuis paid for the advertisements which read, “How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers”, a quote attributed to Mother Theresa.

At the bottom of the ad, a TransLink disclaimer had been placed distancing the company from the messaging. TransLink said that the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards had been met.

The MP told CityNews at the time that he had bought the ad in response to another controversial ad, paid for by the U.S. non-profit World Population Balance, which was put up around transit stops.

An ad encouraging couples to do their part to control overpopulation was run in September, 2020.

“Conservation begins at conception,” one reads, while another tells commuters, “The most loving gift you can give your first child is to not have another.”

The ad was later removed following several complaints.