Series – Looking Back | Simons did not ‘promote euthanasia’

The chronicle is an art that is often practiced in the heat of the moment. The end of the year is a good opportunity for our columnists to see what they could have done differently, with hindsight.

The scandal did not spread to Quebec, but paradoxically, it comes from a company established in Old Quebec for 182 years. It caused a stir in the United States, in English Canada and even in England. But surely you don’t know what I’m talking about.

However, the hour is serious. Because the chain of stores Simons – flagship of Quebec if there is one – has promoted euthanasia. Not that of sick little animals. No, human euthanasia.

This all obviously makes no sense, but that’s how the American and English-Canadian right interpreted an art video titled everything is beauty whose message was: see beauty everywhere, even in dark times and trials.

This storm fueled by faith, and a heavy dose of bad faith, hit Simons quite hard. With hindsight, these gratuitous attacks would have deserved more attention in Quebec, and that is why I come back to them, at a time when the end of the year encourages us to look in the rear view mirror.

Certainly, Simons’ proposal was bold, perhaps risky. We were very far from the traditional advertising announcing that nylon stockings and ties are 50% off.

During the three-minute video, Jennyfer, a 37-year-old musician, talks about what fueled her life and how she anticipates her final moments. Dying in hospital is not “natural” or “gentle”, she says. “When I imagine my last days, I see music. I see the ocean. I see cheesecake. »

The images are full of poetry. A beach, a forest, a cello, a meal with friends, illuminated jellyfish, giant soap bubbles. And at the end, these few words: “For Jennyfer, June 1985 – October 2022”.

You will have understood that Jennyfer asked for medical assistance in dying. And that the video was released very soon after^⁠1.

As of November 2, the big boss of Simons, Peter Simons, was interviewed on TVA^⁠2 to explain his view. After two years of pandemic, he wanted to talk about the importance of interpersonal relationships and that of enjoying the present moment. Jennyfer reminds us how to see beauty in difficult times, which shows great courage, according to the businessman recognized for his humanism and his passion for art. Moreover, he himself piloted the project after meeting Jennyfer.

End of story in Quebec. But not elsewhere. Oh no !

Simons’ video was a pretext to put Canada and its values ​​on trial.

“It is barbaric to establish a bureaucratic system that offers death as a reliable cure for suffering and enlists doctors to deliver this ‘cure’,” read the report. New York Times.

Fox News was outraged by the story of a young Toronto man who doctors ‘agreed to kill because he’s sad and doesn’t have a girlfriend’, with a picture of Justin Trudeau in mortise and the words “euthanize them” ³.

Worse, children may soon be killed by state-funded doctors without their parents being told, said host Tucker Carlson. We swim in delirium.

The story went to the UK. “By portraying a woman’s decision to take her own life as a high-end lifestyle choice, Simons glorifies suicide and tells vulnerable Canadians that they would be better off dead than alive,” said a University lecturer. from Oxford to DailyMail^⁠4.

The words “Simons”, “promotion” and “euthanasia” or “suicide” have found their way into the titles of dozens of online publications (news, advertising, fashion, marketing). An example: “Canada is now world famous for the suicide of the young, the old, the weak and the poor”, headlined Rebel News^⁠5.

“It was the reaction in the United States that created a stir in Canada. It is the religious right that has stepped up to the plate, ”summarizes Éric Blais, who has followed the soap opera for weeks. As president of Headspace Marketing, a company that helps advertisers in English Canada and the United States better understand the Quebec market, he is well placed to observe cultural differences. This one is size XXL.

In his opinion, Simons’ message was “still extreme”, but it is “justified” for a company to “talk about its values ​​and do social ads”. Do we only want to see advertisements announcing discounts?

A petition asking Simons to stop “promoting euthanasia” has garnered more than 7,500 signatures. The company was also treated to “a deluge of online harassment and threats”, according to its advertising agency, which led to the removal of the video viewed 1 million times^⁠6.

Although no one at Simons wanted to talk to me about the soap opera – because “the campaign ended more than two weeks ago” and the team is focused on the holiday season, according to the public relations firm National –, it seems obvious to me that the idea was not to obtain media attention by provoking. This is not at all the kind of Peter Simons, who must be saddened by the turn of events.

The essence of its message has been distorted and politicized. Moreover, the lack of controversy in Quebec suggests that it was quite possible to fully understand Simons’ intention.

This is yet another illustration of the gap that separates the two solitudes of Canada, and of the immense canyon between Quebecers and the American right. This is the demonstration that we see what we want to see, with our convictions and our values.

I prefer to see Jennyfer’s story as an invitation to reflect on life.