Above: Photo from Canadian Seal Products
Canadian Seal Products, a special interest group made of industry members to promote goods made from seals, has launched its new ad campaign, “Good for you. Good for the environment.” to spread the word about its range of seal products countrywide.
The campaign is comprised of a series of video advertisements that highlight clothing, accessories and home decor made from seal fur, as well as seal meat and omega-3 seal oil supplements for both consumers and their pets.
According to Doug Chiasson, the executive director of the Fur Institute of Canada, these ads are targeted at Canadians who may not be exposed to seals and seal products in their day-to-day life.
According to Chiasson, the tables have turned when it comes to public perception of the seal hunt. Over the years, he and his contemporaries have had to fight back against what they deemed to be misinformation about seal products by environmentalists and animal rights groups.
“The fact that we are now in a position to start saying, ‘Look at this product and buy this product on the merits of the product itself,’” said Chiasson. “There’s something edifying about that; that we may have finally gotten back to a point where seal products can stand on their own merit, as opposed to having to be a statement.”
“We’re hoping by putting that in front of more Canadians, that folks who aren’t exposed to seal products on a regular basis might have their horizons widened a bit and consider purchasing high-quality Canadian goods,” said Chiasson.
“Our main focus right now in this campaign is the Greater Toronto Area and Montreal. We’ve also got some smaller, more focused ad buys throughout parts of central Canada.”
Chiasson said that consumers and the environment can benefit from increasing the use of seal fur and meat. With nearly 12 million seals calling the Atlantic Canadian coast home, Canadian Seal Products maintains that utilizing their abundant population not only has a negligible effect on the Canadian seal population but keeps them in balance with the fish stocks they prey upon.
“Certainly, seal fur is durable and sustainable. It keeps you warm and dry in the winter,” said Chiasson. “Seal meat is incredibly high in iron and incredibly high in zinc and magnesium. The word superfood gets thrown around a lot these days, but seal meat really is a homegrown Canadian superfood.”
According to Canadian Seal Products, seal oil supplements are a unique form of omega-3 supplementation due to the fact it is derived from mammals as opposed to salmon or krill, which they claim allows for more ready absorption by humans and pets.
“It’s certainly got all the benefits of omega-3s in terms of heart health and brain health and fetal development for people that want to take seal oil, but it also has some pretty significant benefits for dogs, in particular in terms of keeping their coats lustrous. It’s something not a whole lot of dogs are getting enough of in their diet,” said Chiasson. “There is a lot of really interesting science behind choosing seal oil over fish oil or shrimp oil or krill oil.”
As seal products make their way into mainstream Canadian consciousness, Chiasson said their ad campaign gives way to grassroots, word-of-mouth marketing. He said that most people who experience seal products firsthand will spread the word, either directly or indirectly, to people in their social circles.
“The reality of garments and accessories is that the tactile experience is an important one, so the more seal products that we can get out on the street; every one of those people, to a certain degree, becomes a walking billboard, same as with any other garment,” said Chiasson.
“If we can maintain that throughout the life of the campaign, more people are getting exposed to this and more potential consumers are getting exposed to this, that continues to drive interest. If those two people tell two people, and those two people tell two more people, I think we’ll be in a very advantageous situation.”
For more information on the “Good for you. Good for the environment.” campaign, visit www.canadiansealproducts.com.
