Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id QAA09758 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 15 Apr 2000 16:56:03 +0100 Subject: Fwd: Beer ad spurs Canadian pride Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2000 11:54:05 -0400 x-sender: wsmith1@camail2.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas Est Veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "Memetics Discussion List" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable Message-ID: <20000415155403.AAA3788@camailp.harvard.edu@[205.240.180.44]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Memes always sprout at the borders.
____________________________
Beer ad spurs Canadian pride
By Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff, 4/15/2000
MONTREAL - Standing foursquare in front of a screen flashing Canadian
symbols - beavers, Ottawa's Peace Tower, the Maple Leaf flag - an average
Joe in a checked flannel shirt rips into American misperceptions about
his country.
''I have a prime minister, not a president. I speak English or French,
not American,'' he says, voice swelling with emotion. ''And I pronounce
it `about,' not `a-boot.'''
''I believe in peacekeeping, not policing; diversity, not assimilation,''
he goes on in the 60-second spot as the national icons loom over his
shoulder. ''And that the beaver is a proud and noble animal.''
Strangely, in a country known for its aversion to the sort of rah-rah
jingoism associated with its southern neighbor, this nationalist tirade
has become an overnight sensation: taped and shown in bars, filling
megascreens at hockey games, performed live in movie theatres.
Stranger still is the revved-up reaction the ad is evoking in this
notoriously reticent land - wild cheers, stamping of feet, frantic
flag-waving, and fists punching the air.
And perhaps strangest of all, the spot is not the cunning propaganda of
some ultrapatriot cabal, but a commercial for Molson Canadian beer.
''No one knows what to make of it. It's a pretty anti-American message,
but it's real cool the way it stands up for Canada,'' said Josie Flynn,
22, a part-time student at Montreal's Concordia University, as she sipped
a half-pint in a west-end bar. ''It leaves you feeling real proud and
kind of choked up.''
First aired last month, the commercial has become an oddly potent
rallying point for a country where feelings of national pride are seldom
spoken; a country whose self-image often seems lost in the cultural,
political, and economic shadow cast by the superpower next door.
''We have to remind ourselves who we are in the face of the deluge of
flag-waving, pure Yankee Americana,'' wrote Peter Goddard, a columnist
for the Toronto Star. ''It's taken Molson to revive the great Canadian
identity.''
Christopher Dornan, director of the School of Journalism and
Communication at Ottawa's Carleton University, said the ad seems to have
struck an especially responsive chord among younger Canadians.
''They see it as a straight-up expression of national pride, even though
the symbols are a bit trivial - beavers, and that we call couches
`chesterfields,' or pronounce the letter `z' as `zed,''' he said. ''But
everyone's talking about it, and usually over beers.''
At Molson Breweries and its advertising agency, Bensimon Byrne D'Arcy,
both based in Toronto, the spot is known simply as ''The Rant.'' And the
makers of Canada's best-selling beer seem genuinely astonished by the
visceral response the campaign has stirred from Halifax to Vancouver.
''It's incredible. We've never had anything like we're getting on this -
I mean, after all, it's a beer commercial,'' said Paul Thomson, manager
of corporate communications for the 212-year-old brewing firm. ''It just
seems to have tapped a powerful undercurrent of feeling that a lot of
people never suspected was out there.''
Thomson insisted the message is not meant to be anti-American. ''It's
pro-Canadian. It speaks to who we are, and what we aren't.''
But the commercial also flaunts an angry edge, slashing at US stereotypes
about Canadians as much as celebrating a distinctly Canadian identity.
And it may reveal that Canadians, too, are joining the tide of reaction
against American gigantism that has been sweeping other parts of the
planet, especially Europe.
''I don't want to overanalyze a beer ad,'' said Dornan. ''But what seems
to have grabbed attention is the way it expresses frustration with the
all-pervasiveness of American culture.''
The commercial opens with an actor alone on a stage in front of a screen
depicting Canadian images. His tone, at the outset, is polite and
diffident - archetypically Canadian - but quickly gathers in intensity
and assertiveness.
''I am not a lumberjack or fur trader. I don't live in an igloo, eat
blubber, or own a dog sled,'' he declares, voice turning raspy with
emotion. ''A tuque is a hat. A chesterfield is a couch. It's pronounced
`zed' - `zed!' - not `zee.'
''Canada is the second-largest land mass, the first nation of hockey, and
the best part of North America!'' he roars to a finish. ''My name is Joe
and I AM CANADIAN!''
Molson's logo is briefly shown, and the commercial ends.
''It's almost like the opening scene of Patton, or the speech in `Citizen
Kane,''' Dornan said. ''Only instead of General Patton or Charles Foster
Kane, here is some ordinary guy in a lumber shirt ranting about Canada. I
have to wonder what Americans visiting the country would possibly make of
it.''
The commercial has made a star of actor Jeff Douglass, a native of Nova
Scotia. This week, Molson sent him around Canada to perform the bit
before live audiences. Tonight, he will perform ''The Rant'' at the
opening of the playoff between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa
Senators.
''The majority of people in the country love the spot,'' Douglass told a
newspaper. ''They love the patriotism and message of it.''
Meanwhile, Molson has been inundated by Canadians praising the ad. There
have also been gripes from unamused Americans: ''So I am stupid, have no
redeeming social value, speak `American,' and drive a big truck with a
Confederate flag,'' wrote one peevish Yank. ''That is how I've been
described by you ... jackasses.''
The campaign is already advertising legend, even south of the border. The
Ad Critic, a Web site followed by the industry, this week ranked the
commercial among the Top 10 in North America, an unusual feat for a spot
aimed solely at Canada's 30 million people.
The company says there is no way of knowing yet whether the campaign will
boost sales of Molson Canadian. But barkeepers report the commercial is a
megahit with consumers of all brands of beer.
''It's awesome. Everyone yells and screams when it comes on TV,'' Fay
Kranna, manager of Courtnall's Sports Grill in Vancouver, told the
National Post newspaper. ''People say the words along with it. They get
pretty hyped.''
This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 4/15/2000. © Copyright
2000 Globe Newspaper Company.
===============================This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Apr 15 2000 - 16:56:16 BST