Target Marketing Attack By Heineken Leaves Fans Grateful

This is pure genius.

Beer Ad #537: Man Plums Feeling Is The Carlton Draught Tingle…

Try getting this beer ad ditty out of your head. More of the same here.

Canucks Deserve A Mascot That Could Destroy “Fin The Whale”

If I ever scream at a Cancuks game it’s usually at the team’s official mascot, Fin the Whale. He sucks as bad as irresponsibly farmed salmon. For serious, we provide for 294 consecutive sellout games and all we get as a sideshow is a dude in a whale suit democratically tossing t-shirts to the cheap seats and the grow-op bigwigs. WTF? He might bang the drum with the enthusiasm that comes courtesy of $25 an hour, but does he ever freely thump the living shit out of those apathetic corporate “fans” who slip out of the game early in overtime to beat the post-game exodus of the Great Unwashed? I think not. So let me say this (if I haven’t said it here or elsewhere already)…if the Bruins mascot (above) ever tires of his gig, he’s more than welcome at GM Place, and he wouldn’t want for friends.

Watch more of the golden dude’s unvarnished antics here.

Hapa Sushi In The USA Pokes Fun At Gaijin Guests In New Ad Spots

“Say hello to your computer, virgin.” Watch them all. Funny stuff.

HuffPo: “Does British Columbia Only Want White Tourists?”

Mike Barber of The Huffington Post is the fellow asking:

In the weeks leading up to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), Tourism British Columbia released a new commercial it spent millions of dollars on in order to promote tourism in the province. The fact that most of the world already knew the 2010 winter Olympics were being held there apparently was not enough. The commercial features notable Canadians Michael J. Fox, Sarah McLachlan, Ryan Reynolds, Kim Cattrall, Steve Nash, and Eric McCormack; what it doesn’t feature is much ethnic diversity.

There are two versions: the 90-second and the 30-second version. The version most are likely familiar with is the 30-second version. I say that because it is the only version I have personally seen aired on Canadian TV; I wasn’t aware the 90-second version even existed until I came across it while searching for the commercial on YouTube. In either case, it is clear the intended target amongst potential tourists are only those as white as the snow featured in the many expensive aerial shots.

Never mind the fact that all the celebrities featured are white, in this version of the commercial there is not a single tourist with a discernible race other than white to be found. There is a token nod to Aboriginal culture for literally a second towards the end, but that’s about the only thing “ethnic” you’re going to see in this version of the promo.

Did Tourism BC err on this or are all of our readily identifiable (in the US market) celebrities white like rice? I understand David Suzuki probably isn’t very big in Texas, but with the absence of any colour in the spot, Barber has a point, albeit a cynical one. Call me naive, but I prefer to think we’re so post-racial here that it never even occurred to the team that greenlit the ad. That said, ad creatives do think about these things, don’t they? I’d hate to think a meeting was held and it was decided that BC would be more marketable if it was portrayed as a rugged whitefest. One of the BC’s greatest strengths is its diversity. It’s something that should be celebrated and sung to the rafters, no?

I Wonder How Long Stanley Park Would Last Against Chainsaws?

(Via Sully) Watch this profoundly humanist anti-deforestation ad by Maya Lin. The basic visual arithmetic of loss of habitat + global warming + mass extinctions = you losing your favourite city park might not balance out, but that doesn’t make the final minute or so with the tree felling seen in reverse any less poignant. Can you imagine Stanley Park gone in sixty seconds? I’d rather not. More at WhatIsMissing.net.

Next Stop: Lots Of Big Apples! “Thank You, And Have A Nice Day”

I love this ad for City Harvest, meant to illustrate the fact that 470,000 lbs of food get wasted every day in New York City.

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