Whenever you reach one of life’s little forks, it’s worth asking: what would Stephen Harper’s War Room do? Which is another way of asking: what did Tim Hortons do eighteen months earlier?
The meek beer commercial jingoism that once reduced Canadian identity to “not American” has slowly given way to that visceral thrill of discovering just what it means to finally become part of a new country. (Too slowly, alas, for poor Michael Ignatieff.)
Tim Hortons has mastered the forked-tongue message, whispering arguably the most resonant Canadian commercial ever created from one tine, as it spits cup-shaped roll up the rim Nevadas from the other. (In a grating Scottish brogue, no less.) Just the latest twist in the history of “diversity in advertising.”
Will such very ethnic photo-ops one day do for cricket what hockey did for the Tim Hortons immigrants?
In a Globe & Mail interview, the author of a semiotic analysis of “I Am Canadian,” was asked if the new branding was a form of intellectual dishonesty:
“It misrepresents our treatment of immigrants,” he said, noting the extraordinary hurdles most newcomers face before they are absorbed into Canadian society. “Immigrants and people who have worked with immigrants will reject the self-congratulatory story conveyed here.”
That’s if the approach doesn’t work. As we head from the Olympics into the most watched single game in NHL history tonight (via a nation changing election, it’s now clear that some greater alchemy has taken place. “Vancouver’s hockey warriors are linking residents of this multi-ethnic city like almost nothing before,” writes Douglas Todd:
Sikh gurdwaras and Catholic churches are going ga-ga. Filipino grannies are swapping statistics with white skateboarders. South Asian professors are sharing game analyses with Chinese executives.
The progressive tine of Very Ethnic’s own tongue should be too savvy for this. (McDonald’s attempt to teach us Asian phrases after chocolating our chocolate is easily volleyed back with with twitpranks.) But who can resist those slumped shoulders of the Chinese grandfather entering a community arena? If they didn’t have you with the subtitles, you are a goner the moment he pulls his son’s tattered hockey card out of the wallet. It’s not the Jade Peony, but something has made us dip sour cream glazed Timbits into our congee instead of traditional Chinese donuts. In America, attempts to embrace other cultures will destroy a brand. In Canada, we so badly want to find our common ground.
YouTube is jammed with videos showing Scott Road in Surrey after dramatic playoff games. “Men, women, seniors, cricket fans, people who had no clue about the game, those who didn’t watch a single game, common noise-making types, bhangra dancing folk as well as those who just wanted to take in all the hype and play a part in the infamous roadblock could not resist skipping this one,” posts DavinderSingh1. His video culminates in a freestyled Punjabi Folk verse:
ਬਾਰੀਂ ਬਰਸੀਂ ਖੱਟਣ ਗਿਆ ਸੀ ਖੱਟ ਕਿ ਲਿਆਂਦੇ ਮੈਂਗੋ! ਬੜੇ ਉਹਨੇ ਸੇਵ ਕੀਤੇ ਜਿਉਂਦਾ ਰਹੇ ‘ਲਙਿੰਗੋ’!
“After many years of drought he finally brought along mango(s); he made a multitude of saves, may long live Luongo!”
“Perhaps my favourite legacy of the Vancouver Olympics is the city’s new-found ability to hold open-air public events,” Todd concludes.
When 100,000 people can gather in downtown Vancouver streets to peacefully watch a tumultuous Canucks game, it’s a sign we are becoming a city that serves humans, not just marketing.
Well, not entirely.
Where does this brand go after tonight?
UPDATE: Didn’t see the brand taking this path (skip to 3:11). It seems to be an ethnically inclusive riot, though. Mind you, the response this morning is just as inclusive.
Word spreads across the Bay's boarded windows the morning after the riot in Vancouver.
Tags: Chinese Canadians, Diversity in advertising, Harnarayan Singh, Hockey advertising, Multicultural Marketing, Riots, Scott Road, Tim Hortons commercials, Vancouver Canucks
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