Macro brewer Molson Coors has come under fire since it launched a new beer commercial last week that appeared to encourage聽skiers and snowboarders to venture beyond the boundaries of a ski resort in search of adventure. 鈥淐oors Light asks, 'What will you brave when the mountains turn blue?'鈥 a voiceover in the ad says. 鈥淲ill you brave going out of bounds?鈥
The ad, which聽premiered online and aired on Canadian television,聽is part of a broader campaign from the beer giant called Brave the Cold.聽It shows a group of three skiers and snowboarders on a snowy mountain, charging headlong past an out-of-bounds sign, through the trees, to a waiting helicopter.
鈥淭o be honest, that is just shocking to me. I鈥檓 almost speechless,鈥 says Mike Danks, team leader for North Shore Rescue in British Columbia, Canada. 鈥淚 cannot believe they are pushing people to go out of bounds, to think that it鈥檚 cool. It works against everything our education is trying to accomplish.鈥

Perplexed viewers and the rescue community took to social media and the comments sections of news websites to voice their disapproval.聽鈥#molsoncoors a #donation to search and rescue is in order for encouraging risky behaviour in #bravethecold. Shame on you!鈥 one woman . “It's so easy to dare others to be irresponsible when you don't have to risk your life to save theirs when they do,” another . Powder Magazine ran a .聽Molson Coors Canada pulled the ad less than 24 hours after it was posted.
Danks聽says the ad is particularly offensive to family members of people who went out of bounds and died, like the聽40-year-old man from B.C. who was killed聽in late January when he fell into the Montizambert drainage while snowboarding in the backcountry聽on Cypress Mountain. The ad 鈥渆mpowers people to go out and possibly meet their maker, if you will, like the guy did on Cypress,鈥 Danks says.
According to Molson Coors Canada Public Relations Manager Greg Vallentin, the ad campaign was only meant to 鈥渉ighlight the fact that any moment can be an opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and find adventure.鈥
鈥淲e have the utmost respect for our drinkers, and the thousands of search and rescue professionals across Canada who risk their lives daily and would never want to make light of a situation that could, or has, negatively impacted someone, or their friends and families,鈥 Vallentin wrote聽in an email to 国产吃瓜黑料. Vallentin and other representatives at Coors did not reply to requests for comment.
In addition to pulling the ad, Coors will also make a donation to the British Columbia Search and Rescue Association for training, support, and public education on outdoor safety, according to Vallentin. He didn鈥檛 specify how much or when.
The ad was put together by Vancouver-based creative agency Rethink Canada and appears to be targeting millennials. Despite the fracas,聽it may have helped raise Coors鈥 brand awareness, says Mary Charleson, a marketing instructor at Capilano University in BC. 鈥淕et people talking about it. Stir a bit of controversy. The media takes the bait,鈥 she says. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 have to go out and buy your traditional TV spots and print ads. They鈥檙e trying to play into that under-29 [years old] group that is on their devices and will share stuff.鈥