Remembrance Day poppy pin that won't fall off too commercial: legion HQ

The head office of theRoyal Canadian Legionsays the sale of alittle black pin designed to keep you from losingyet anotherpoppy is commercializingRemembrance Day.

"People are being asked to pay $3 for a centrepin which is not really part of the spiritof the campaign. It's a commercial venture,"said Bill Maxwell, senior program officer with theRoyal Canadian Legion Dominion Command in Ottawa.

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The pin is a nearreplica of the black felt centre of the legion's traditional poppy minus thesharp, straight pin. Instead, the poppy centre substitute is a lapel pin with aflatback that doesn't poke and stays put.

The pins aremanufactured and sold privately online for $3 to $5 apiece,but at least four Calgarybranchesare also selling themalongside their Remembrance Day poppy campaigns.

"There's a substantial discount that I give to the legions so that they can, you know, make some profit. And what they do with that that's their business. They can put it into their general funds or they can put it into the poppy fund," said Doug Michetti, the Calgary man behind the poppy pincentres.

Michetti,a longtime legion member and volunteer,saysbranches sell his pins to the publicfor $3 each.He says he charges them "less thanhalf that" for each pin and itcosts him a dollar to make a pin. He keeps any remaining profit, butdeclined to provide more details.

"The legions do not sell them with the poppy. You contribute to the poppy fund and you take a poppy and if you want a pin, you buy that separately."

Designed for safety

Michetticame up withthe idea for hispoppy pin centresfour years ago while volunteering for local branch No. 284at the Calgaryairport.

Two young girls from the U.S.approached him,curious about the red plastic flower brooches on his table. After a brief lesson in Canadian history, Michetti gave each of them a poppy pin.

"Then, their mother came along and she looked at the pin and the poppy and said, 'I'm sorry, but girls, you're going to have to give those back.' She was afraid of the pin."

That prompted Michetti to devise a safer backing. Excited by his eureka moment, he immediately rang up head office to inquire about joining forces.

Legion brass told Michetti it was good idea, but they were not interested.

"So I thought, well, it leaves me to do it. So I did it."

Poppy pin centres sell like gangbusters

On Monday, two Royal Canadian Legion branches in Calgary No. 154 (Ogden) and No. 264 (Kensington) had sold out of Michetti's pins.

"I've had no luck so far, " said Lise Marier, who has been searching the city for a dozen poppy pincentres for her family and friends.

In downtown Calgary, a volunteer with the No.1 branch sold 200 in three hours after the word got out on Facebook.

"I ran out," said Joan Lepidus, who runs a Poppy Campaign table inside the Harry Hayes Service Canada building."I really think they'regreat and everybody that comes to buy them they come back two or three times."

Michetti says he has sold about 40,000 of his pins to legions and individuals across Canada and the U.S.since he launched his website.

Pins 'deface' poppy symbol

"You know it is defacing our poppy, and our policy is such that the poppy should not be defaced," said Maxwell,who also speaks for the Royal Canadian Legion's poppy and remembrance committee in Ottawa.

His stance is in line with what's written onpage42 of the Legion's Poppy Manual that the poppy is a 'sacred symbol of remembrance' and no other pin (except the pointy one that it comes with) should be used to attach it to your clothing.

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Maxwell said legionnaires should wear their poppies in the traditional fashion, but recognizes that the Royal Canadian Legion can't control the will of the Canadian public.

"It's a personal choice. And it's better to wear a poppy than nopoppy at all," he said.

Dominion Command has directed branchesacross Canada not to sell the poppy pincentre substitutes.

Maxwell adds that if people are worried about poking themselves with the poppy pin, manylegion branches supply "poppy savers,"or plastic ends, to put on the pointy end of the pin.