When Diageo announced it was shutting down its Crown Royal bottling plant in Amherstburg, Ontario, the news hit hard for this small town on the Detroit River. The plant wasn’t just a workplace — it had been core to the town’s identity for generations. A community that took pride in bottling one of Canada’s most famous exports is now staring at an uncertain future. Nearly 200 families are poised to lose not just jobs and a paycheque, but also a piece of their identity.
At a press conference earlier this week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford picked up a bottle of Crown Royal, turned it upside down, and let the whisky pour out onto the ground. The message wasn’t subtle. This wasn’t a nostalgic farewell. It was a rebuke: “You abandoned us, and now I’m done with you — and so are the millions of Ontario consumers I represent.”
The message landed because it tapped into something people already felt. Crown Royal’s biggest customer isn’t in the U.S. or overseas. It’s right here in Ontario. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario is one of the largest alcohol buyers in the world, and Crown Royal has been a top seller for decades. From a business standpoint, it’s hard to understand why you’d cut jobs in the province that has essentially been your golden goose. To Ontarians, the closure feels less like a faraway corporate decision and more like a slap in the face from a company that got rich off of local loyalty.
Ford’s whisky pour was a master class in political theatre. And in the current media environment, it works. The most effective political messages aren’t delivered in long speeches anymore. They’re delivered in three-second clips built for the “mute button.” People aren’t tuning in for full press conferences — they’re scrolling past videos on their phones.
The mute button theory favours images over words. That’s why Ford’s upside-down bottle mattered. You didn’t need to know the details of Amherstburg’s economic history or Diageo’s corporate strategy to feel the sting of watching a good whisky wasted. You just got it.
Ford is good at this — better than anyone else in Canada. For a guy who doesn’t personally use social media, he has an instinct for creating moments that go viral. Remember the cheesecake he baked during COVID lockdowns? His deadpan reaction to swallowing a bee mid-press conference? The little red shovel he used to dig out a neighbour’s car during a snowstorm? Each of those moments shot across the internet, not because of slick strategy, but because they were human. They told a story without a single word.
Other leaders figured it out too. George W. Bush with a bullhorn at Ground Zero. Volodymyr Zelenskyy in fatigues, filming shaky iPhone videos from Kyiv. And closer to home, Rob Ford on his first day as Toronto’s mayor, tearing up his “perks cards” to show taxpayers he was getting rid of freebies for politicians. That image told a whole story in seconds: he was there to end the gravy train. Doug Ford has inherited that same instinct. His whisky pour, like his brother’s torn cards, wasn’t about policy detail — it was about a symbol that cut through the noise and stuck in people’s minds.
The best political moments always marry symbol and substance. Ford’s Crown Royal moment was smart politics. It connected with the people of Amherstburg, spoke to Ontarians worried about losing more manufacturing jobs, and showed anger at a global company walking away. All of that matters. But what makes it more than a stunt is Ford’s ability to connect the gesture to a broader story. He has built a reputation for understanding how people feel and for channeling that emotion into something larger. Whether it’s a cheesecake in his kitchen or a whisky bottle on the ground, these moments cut through the noise because they feel authentic and human. And they often set the stage for policy moves that follow.
Ford also knows that these moments can set the stage for something bigger. If his government follows this moment with tangible support for Amherstburg — new investment, retraining programs, tax incentives to lure another company to town — then the whisky pour won’t be remembered as a gimmick. It will be remembered as the beginning of a story where Ford signalled solidarity and then delivered on it.
That’s the real strength of his approach.
Laryssa Waler is the founder and CEO of Henley Strategies and former executive director of communications for Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
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