Ever since the NHL announced its league-wide ban on Pride Tape, numerous fans and a few players have stepped up to raise the rainbow wrap’s profile higher than it’s ever been before.

Now that the NHL has reversed its Pride Tape ban, it all seems to have been worthwhile.

One of the unintended consequences of the original decision was that some corporations discovered they could win PR points by aligning themselves with Pride Tape.

Such was the case with financial institution Scotiabank, which yesterday announced that they are giving away 5000 rolls of Pride Tape to their customers throughout Canada. Scotiabank is a major NHL sponsor in Canada.

In addition to publishing their promotion on Twitter, Scotiabank provided a list of 13 locations where they would be hosting the Pride Tape giveaway from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.

Playing off of the NHL’s now-ironic “Hockey is for everyone” slogan, Scotiabank also unveiled a poster promising “Pride Tape For All” in a rainbow-hued font. It appears that Scotiabank will actually be following through on that promise, based on the fact that they’re not run by Gary Bettman.

This promotion came on the heels of Arizona Coyotes defenseman Travis Dermott becoming the first NHL player to defy the league’s ban by wrapping Pride Tape on his stick during a game last Saturday.

It’s one more way that Pride Tape has been used in unexpected ways since the NHL announced its ban, from a Columbus Blue Jackets fan making it part of a sign she brought to opening night…

…to Seattle Kraken Senior IT Manager Grant Beery posting a picture of the fiercest mouse pad in hockey:

It was a bad look for the NHL when the league’s executives appeared less supportive of the LGBTQ community than its office supplies.

Companies like Scotiabank stepped into the void that the NHL created and this was one more example of how Pride Tape continued to grow in popularity since the league made it an issue.

It’s difficult to determine if the NHL expected this, partly because under Bettman, their business model has been:

  • Score an own goal.
  • Profit?

In the long run, fan pressure and companies like Scotiabank creating successful marketing campaigns based off of the NHL’s blunder likely contributed to the league reversing their decision.

Bettman’s gaffe turned out to be Pride Tape’s gain.

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