During a recent episode of CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes a skit featured a satire of communion where a Tim Hortons’ coffee and Timbits were substituted for the body and blood of Christ.
Satire shouldn’t take stabs at one of the Catholic Church’s holiest sacraments, said Joanne McGarry, executive director of the rights league. In addition to registering a protest with the CBC, the league has sent a letter to Tim Hortons to make sure the company is aware of the use of its product in the show.
“Where I think a line had been crossed is when they are mocking the sacrament,” said McGarry. “Without that it wouldn’t have even been worth responding to.”
In a formal letter addressed to Paul House, Tim Hortons’ CEO, McGarry noted her concerns with the product placement and how she felt it could negatively reflect upon Tim Hortons, although she acknowledges the company was not involved with the show.
“I wanted to make sure that they realized that they’re a very well known company and products had been used in a satirical way that an awful lot of their customers find offensive. I also thought they should realize that people ... thought it was a Tim Hortons’ ad. ”
Tim Hortons has received numerous complaints about the skit, said Alexandra Cygal, the company’s senior manager of public affairs.
“We did get some calls from our guests,” said Cygal. “The questions that we got from our guests centred around were you involved and did you know. The response to that is no we didn’t … (and) once we set the record straight with our guests they chose to call the CBC.”
It’s the second time in a year that McGarry has written a formal letter of complaint to the CBC regarding This Hour Has 22 Minutes. An earlier skit portrayed the Last Supper with a woman supposed to be Jesus’ wife repeatedly interrupting the meal to say Jesus spent too much time drinking with the boys.
Both times McGarry received a generic response from the CBC thanking her for writing in and assuring McGarry her concerns would be passed on to the appropriate people.