Alma suing provincial government for use of word ‘sticky’ in tourism campaign

Alma — The tiny seaside village of Alma, N.B., along with the Albert County Tourism Association are trying to stick it to the provincial government for stealing the word “sticky” right out from under their noses.

“Alma is home to the province’s famous sticky buns, and Tourism New Brunswick is clearly trying to steal our thunder… ‘It’s Sticky Season’? What’s that about?” said Albert County Tourism Association co-president Jack Stevenson. “We have exclusive rights to the word ‘sticky’ and it can only refer to Kelly’s Bake Shop buns, NOT to maple syrup and other maple products!”

The lawsuit purports that the Government of New Brunswick’s Tourism, Heritage and Culture department, along with their advertising agency, were aware of Alma’s main claim to fame, and despite that, attempted to rebrand the word “sticky” to be about maple syrup, creating “irreparable damage to Alma’s tourism sector.” The lawsuit demands that GNB not only change all current promotions, but that they pay damages to the town of Alma to the tune of $1 million — money that would have been earned in a regular tourism season.

Because the provincial government’s springtime campaign is well underway, GNB officials claim it’s too late to cease its promotion.

“I don’t think you can claim to own the word ‘sticky,’ can you? It’s a common word and we’re tying it to maple syrup production and products, not to those soggy, sickening pastries,” said Tourism New Brunswick communications officer Kyle Denis. “While I appreciate that it’s a sticky situation, we’re sticking to our guns on this one. And anyway, it really sounds like these ACTA people have a stick up their butts. Buncha saps.”

“He said whaaaatt?! Lemme at him! No one talks about the great community of Alma that way!” yelled ACTA co-president Cheryl Stevenson. “No one should even be allowed to joke about Alma, let alone steal our only claim to fame other than some three-star lobster restaurants. They’re treating us like we’re no better than St. Stephen!”

Several Alma residents are planning to stage a protest to draw some much-needed attention to their cause.

“The folks at GNB have some seriously sticky fingers, snatching up our slogan like that,” Jack Stevenson explained. “I’ve been doing up some Bristol board signs that say ‘Make Alma Sticky Again,’ and we’re going to march outside Kelly’s Bake Shop. That should garner some visibility for our lawsuit.

“What can I say, we’re sticklers for the truth.”