Beer Store releases controversial ad targeting convenience store liquor sales

The Beer Store has released a controversial ad as Ontario considers allowing convenience stores to sell liquor.

In the 30-second spot, released on Tuesday, teenagers are easily able to buy at a corner store. The sales clerk never asks for identification. Instead, he tells the trio to “have a good night, boys.”

The ad ends with a message from The Beer Store: Alcohol in convenience stores? It’s just not right for our kids.

The commercial is clearly against the sale and The Beer Store — owned by Molson Coors Brewing Co., Anheuser-Busch InBev SA and Sleeman Breweries Ltd. — has also created a website, OntarioBeerFacts.ca, to support its position.

The Beer Store, unlike the LCBO, is not owned by the government.

The Ontario Convenience Store Association was quick to target the ads, and the foreign ownership of The Beer Store.

The ads “feature a fiction so detached from the reality of how the responsible community convenience store retailers operate, it’s laughable,” association CEO Dave Bryans said in a statement.

“Refreshingly, Ontarians are seeing right through them and openly mocking these ads.”

Bryans also points out that convenience stores already sell age-restricted products, like cigarettes and lottery tickets.

Earlier this month, the Ontario Liberals said they would be placing 10 LCBO express outlets inside large grocery stores across the province as part of a pilot project. However, last year, Premier Kathleen Wynne said the the government does not plan to otherwise expand the sale of beer and wine.

Other provinces, such as Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec, already allow private liquor sales.

Should the government allow liquor to be sold beyond the LCBO and The Beer Store? Watch the video below and let us know what you think in the comments.

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