French CBC employees’ union opposes new branding

MONTREAL – The proposed rebranding of the French-language CBC has produced a fair share of criticism — including from its own employees.

A union representing Radio-Canada workers says it’s “firmly” opposed to the new moniker.

The union calls it unwelcome and inappropriate to have spent more than $400,000 on a marketing campaign at a time of budget cuts.

The union says in a statement that the new name — Ici, French for, “Here” — also obscures a brand people have come to love over nearly 80 years.

The name change had been rumoured for several months and was released for public consumption yesterday, to less-than-overwhelming reviews.

Beneath a story on Radio-Canada’s own website, comments condemning the switch were getting approximately 15 clicks of support from other readers for each on that disagreed.

Meanwhile, Radio-Canada management were being sandwiched from both sides: from their workers’ union, and from their political boss.

Heritage Minister James Moore repeated a warning today that Radio-Canada had better tread carefully.

“I have spoken with CBC’s President & made it very clear that Canada’s public broadcaster must remain, clearly, Canadian,” Moore tweeted.