When Debbie Bruce decided to get a personalized license plate in 2002 and chose DEB ACLE, she had no idea it would coincide with an Olympic skating scandal.
Debbie, who lives in Mississauga, Ontario, thought a personalized license plate would be fun to go with her Purple Dodge Neon she was driving at the time.
“I’ve always been a car person,” Debbie told me. “My dad had a Studebaker. I have a picture of him holding me in front of it when I was a baby. He also had a 1964 Ford Galaxy 500 candy apple red with a 352 engine. I’ve always loved cars.”
When she decided to get plate with a name, she worked in a marketing/purchasing role for Michael Belvedere, who owned a company called Nature’s Organic/Belvedere and Associates. He had a product called DEP Hairstyling Gel, and the company did a pool of advertising ads using the word DEP such as DEPUTANTE and DEPENAIR.
She originally considered DEPUTANTE, but it contained more letters than allowed. She also considered DEB IT, but it was already taken.
So she went with DEB ACLE.
“When I was going through the dictionary, as soon as I saw that name I thought it would definitely make people laugh,” Debbie said.
Well, about the time her personalized plate debuted – I’m having fun with the deb if you didn’t figure it out – the Winter Olympics were taking place in Salt Lake City. Canada had an ice pairs duo comprised of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier. They skated flawlessly in the long program and many people thinking the Canadian duo won the gold. But the judges, in particular one from France, voted in favor of the Russian pairs, despite them making a mistake in their program, by a score of 5-4. The outrage that erupted escalated when the French judge alleged she was pressured into voting for the Russians in exchange for helping the French team in the ice dance team competition.
“There were headlines all over the place and they called it a debacle,” Debbie said. “I thought it was wild. You haven’t heard anybody say that word ever and then suddenly I get my license plate and it’s everywhere all the time. I was blown away. I almost thought I should get a royalty every time somebody used it.”
Debbie’s husband, Jim, had a company, Centrum, that sponsored Skate Canada, the Canadian national figure skating organization. “We also knew Salé and Pelletier a little bit, so I thought this was too wild, but I never contacted them,” Debbie said. “I was joking about selling the plates to them.”
Debbie said she’s had many people comment on the plate.
Perry Lefko is the Content Manager of The Car Magazine. He can be reached at [email protected]. Feel free to forward any story suggestions or comments.