Waterloo Brewing's Laker Ice brand of beer features an "Ontario Proud" patch that resembles the logo of the right-wing social-media group of the same name. (Charlie Pinkerton/iPolitics)

Sitting on an eye-level shelf in the LCBO, the bold-face font of “Ontario Proud” is impossible to miss on the side of a case of Laker Ice beer.

The logo, with its white print against a red background, resembles the one used by the popular right-wing advocacy group of the same name — appearing to link the group that claimed credit for defeating the Kathleen Wynne Liberals with Waterloo Brewing’s discount beer. Except they’re not tied in any way.

A news release posted to Globe Newswire says Waterloo Brewing launched its Ontario Proud-brand packaging for its Laker series of beers on May 3.

“We want Ontario beer drinkers to know you can get a great-quality beer produced right here in Ontario for a great price,” says the news release under the headline, “New Look for Laker Beer is Ontario Proud.”

“And because we’re Canadian-owned, the jobs and money stay right here in the province.”

But Ontario Proud’s campaign against the left began well before May 3.

The Ontario Proud Facebook page was launched by Jeff Ballingall on Feb. 26, 2016. Ballingall, who had been a Harper-era Conservative staffer, built the page to its current 425,000-plus followers by posting and sharing anti-Liberal memes, videos and articles. It’s by far the most followed political Facebook page in Ontario, and one of the most followed political pages in Canada; it has more followers than even the official pages of the Conservative Party of Canada, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, or former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Around the time Waterloo Brewing launched its Ontario Proud campaign, the Facebook page of the same name was spreading anti-Wynne and anti-NDP posts, once it was clear Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats would be the biggest threat to Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives. The organization has since turned its attention to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, intending to “do everything in our power to ensure … is a one-term prime minister,” Ballingall has written.

The association between the two is pure happenstance, Jim Manz, a spokesperson for Waterloo Brewing, told iPolitics.

“The timing of our new Ontario-themed packaging for Laker was coincident with the recent provincial election and the use of a common phrase equally coincidental,” Manz wrote in an email.

Michael Mulvey, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management who researches brand imaging and positioning, says he buys Manz’s claim that the connection is coincidental.

“To me, this looks like a form of nationalistic branding; using place-of-origin to harness the goodwill of local patrons — not unlike ‘Shop Canadian’ or ‘America First’ campaigns of the past,” Mulvey said in an email. “Beer is a crowded space, with many brands lacking obvious differences (i.e., taste and price parity), so image and brand story often come to the foreground in advertising to shape and bolster consumer preferences. For some consumers, ‘Ontario Proud’ may be a tie-breaker in choosing a brand of beer.”

Ballingall said the similarity has been flagged to him before, but his group and the brewery are in no way involved with one another.

“We’re flattered that (Waterloo Brewing) loves Ontario as much as we do, and we hope they’re not infringing on our intellectual property rights,” Ballingall said.

Whether that’s the case is unclear. “Ontario Proud” is not trademarked in Canada, but, according to the Trademark Act, it’s illegal to direct attention to any goods, services or businesses in a way defined as “likely to cause confusion in Canada.” However, because the entities involved are so different — political advocacy group versus beer maker — they could be considered impossible to confuse.

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