A storm of fury has been brewing on Canada's East Coast as a radio station in Nova Scotia intends to play international matchmaker for one "lucky" person, offering the opportunity to "win a mail-order bride."
The Halifax-based Q104, which is operated by NewCap Broadcasting Ltd., recently launched a contest titled "The Male is in the Czech," which offers to send the winner — alone — to Prague for five nights and also includes a number of arranged dates through www.czech-bride.com.
Since it launched Monday, the reaction has been far from loving, the station's program director said.
"We've had a lot of people take exception to it and we've had a large number of official complaints registered with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council," J.C. Douglas said Thursday.
"It's somewhat disconcerting because we really think it's been misunderstood. . . . It seems like some of these people have taken a look at the icing and decided they don't like the cake."
The station's Facebook page has been filled with feedback in recent days and others have voiced their opinions on Twitter.
Common words used to describe the promotion are "sexist" and "demeaning" and a Facebook group titled "Shame on Q104 for the Czech contest" has surfaced. It had nearly 100 members Thursday.
Others, however, have come to the defence of the station and say those opposed to the contest are misunderstanding its premise.
The winner receives the "bronze package" from the Czech dating website. Included are four dates, which can be used on the same woman if the winner takes an immediate liking. The bronze package is valued at 1,100 euros or $1,460 Cdn.
"If you look beyond the name of the contest . . . you'll see that it's really not a lot more than a European dating game," Douglas said, noting there's no certainty the contest winner will find a spouse.
"There's no talk or any guarantee of intimate contact between these people. People are just going off without getting the facts straight ....
