What Québec Wants

On your knees

Interesting findings from a reader survey conducted by MARIAGE Québec magazine, a St-Joseph Media publication. The survey was conducted between January and June 2009 among 508 readers who are engaged.

 

• 86% of engaged couples in Québec already live together (compared to 75% for the national average).
• 16% in Québec believe that it’s acceptable to give cash instead of a wedding gift (compared to 41% for the national average).
• 36% in Québec believe they should have a prenuptial agreement (compared to 22% for the national average).
• 70% in Québec say they’re even more passionate since their engagement (compared to 55% for the national average).
• 56% of men were on their knees when they proposed.
• 37% asked for permission from the future bride’s father.
• 87% of future brides were given a ring and 26% of future couples chose it together.
• At the time of the engagement, the average age of the future bride was 29.7 years old. (It was 27 in 2008).
• 88% of the future grooms won’t see the dress until the big day.
• 19% admit that they haven’t completely forgotten past relationships.
• The average cost of a wedding in Québec is $12,175, a 20% increase from last year, compared to a 1% increase nationally.

Life is short. Have an affair.

(Or how to fuel controversy to get free publicity.)

Sun Media reports today that Noel Biderman, the CEO of the Ashley Madison ‘dating website for married people looking to have affairs’ is threatening to sue the Toronto Transit Commission for refusing to wrap its streetcars with his ad with the headline: "Life is short. Have an affair.” The result? More free publicity for someone who has figured out how to leverage controversy to raise awareness of and visits to his website.

Earlier this year, CTV had refused to air a TV commercial for Ashley Madison with essentially the same message. That too got Mr. Biderman tons of free publicity.

During the summer of 2008, Ashley Madison posted a billboard in Times Square with the same message. Fox and many others reported on it before it was removed due to complaints.

Mr. Biderman is quoted in the Village Voice saying that the ‘controversy has aroused massive interest’. I bet. And with more than 2.5 million users, Mr. Biderman must be laughing.

But he won’t win awards for creativity. His headline is rather close to one used in 2007 by a Chicago-based law firm that generated a fair bit of publicity on national scale. According to ABC News “the ad was the brainchild of Corri Fetman, who told ABC News' Law & Justice Unit, "Law firm advertising is boring…Everything's always the same. It's lawyers in libraries with a suit on and the law books behind them. They don't say anything. What, I should hire you because you have a law degree? C'mon. So we wanted to try something different."

Perhaps Ms. Fetman will consider suing Mr. Biderman for plagiarism. More free publicity.

Here's some unsolicited advice for Mr. Biderman. Invest in a bilingual site and try your shock advertising approach in Quebec. I'd be curious to see what reaction you get. Judging by this Angus Reid data, it seems that having affairs isn't as controversial:

What is morally acceptable?  Married men and/or women having an affair.

• Atlantic 10%
  
• Quebec 35%
  
• Ontario 10%
  
• Prairies 14%
  
• Alberta 10%
  
• BC 10%

For more on Quebeckers and cheating, read this post from last summer.

Degrees of cheating

When everyone was commenting on the Mark Sandford story, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled Sex Americana about how sex has upended so many political careers.

Its author claims that ‘the Americans and the Brits are the psycho-sexually repressed victims of their  puritan moral heritage and their Protestant work ethic. For the Europeans, especially those of a Latin provenance, the sexual antics of politicians are of no more consideration in the judgment of their suitability for office than is what they eat for breakfast.’

Is this also true of Quebeckers given the Latin roots of many?

It seems it is.

Here are a few data points:

What is morally acceptable?  Married men and/or women having an affair.

• Atlantic 10%
• Quebec 35%
• Ontario 10%
• Prairies 14%
• Alberta 10%
• BC 10%

Source: Angus Reid Strategies, October 2007

Percentage of respondents who would not tell if they witnessed a good friend's partner cheating on them because they feel it is none of their business?

• Alberta 26%
• B.C. 30%
• Ontario 29%
• Quebec 35%

Source: The Globe & Mail’s The Love Poll – 15,000 Canadians nationally online.

Quebeckers are significantly less likely than Canadians in the ROC to believe that they have been cheated on.

Thinking back to a current or past relationship, have you ever been cheated on by your partner? % who answer ‘yes’ .

• Atlantic 31%
• Quebec 18%
• Ontario 31%
• Prairies 30%
• Alberta 37%
• BC 36%

 Source: Ipsos Reid survey on behalf of Alliance Atlantis, January 2004

Are Quebeckers more trusting, more committed or more clueless?

It might simply be because their definition of ‘cheating’ differs from that of Canadians in the ROC. They are least likely to consider ‘a secret dinner date’, ‘a kiss’, an ‘online/internet flirtation’ cheating. But they’ll agree with Canadians in the ROC that ‘an intimate physical encounter’ is cheating.