I'm a fan of clever television ads. Sometimes I even get sucked into trying a product because their advertising is good or I'll find myself humming along with their catchy tunes.
Some ads I hate though -- like the Casino Rama ones where no one knows how to have fun until they've visited the casino "Thank you, Casino Rama, for showing us how to have fun." Because without Casino Rama and gambling in our lives, we'd be too stupid to realize that we should cheer if our team scores or if we win an amazing trip in a radio contest.
One new ad has really caught my ire. David Suzuki has managed to both offend and enlighten in his new television ad, aimed at having us plebs reduce our energy consumption. It could have been a cute idea and its premise is a good one -- regardless of whether we are 'deniers', 'skeptics' or 'true believers' in climate change, it makes sense to conserve energy and try to improve environmental conditions in every aspect of our lives, if only to make breathing easier.
In this new ad called "The Basement", Suzuki and his enviro-idiots use 'Bob', a guy so ignorant that he keeps a huge fridge running to cool four beers, then protests when Suzuki says it's a waste. 'But I'm using it' comes the doltish plea. But when Suzuki awakens Bob to the savings potential -- and the prospect of more beer money -- not only does Bob unplug the fridge -- he races through his house, pushes past his family members and proceeds to unplug every energy using device, even those in use. All for more and more and more beer. Just a regular guy, that Bob.
Thank you David Suzuki, for letting us into your head to see what you and your pals really think of us. Idiot.
canadianna
22 comments:
I tried running the "Basement" video, and it locked up my computer. I ended up having to shut everything down.
Do you suppose that is some dastardly, covert plan of the Suzuki gang? ;)
Yep, it's a real winner. Wonder how much we paid him for it?
Just had a thought. If David Suzuki has four houses, how many 'fridges does he have?
my goodness...you're easily offended.
i hope you were equally upset at the CPC's latest attempt to character bash their way into majority territory.
notaleader.ca hosts a charming little piece of racism that mocks those whose first language isn't english. quite charming.
Jeff -- This ad suggests that Canadian men are stupid. Everywhere you comment, you tend to prove their point, but I have a higher opinion of our typical Canadian male.
Your link doesn't work, but no matter. There is no 'racism' at work here. A simple mind might see these ads and think that Dion is being poked at for not speaking English well, but the fact is, the Leader of the Official Opposition who aspires to be the Prime Minister of ALL Canadians does not speak the language of its majority well enough to make himself clearly understood without interpretation. Jacque et Jeanne Quebecker are not the targets here -- a man who wants to be PM but hasn't invested in learning to communicate with his coveted constituents is.
Stop just looking and start thinking man.
Geez, lighten up. Its no big deal.
even a simple-minded person like me (i applaud you for your unique genius) can understand that mocking someone for how they speak is at the very least, mean-spirited and childish.
furthermore, if you cannot understand dion without a translator, you're either willfully choosing to tune him out to suit blind partisanship or not as clever as you claim to be.
dion's english will continue to improve. in fact, since the leadership campaign, it has improved greatly. wait until next fall.
part of the program at notaleader.ca is the senseless and juvenile pseudo-blog hosted by dion's dog, kyoto.
kyoto dreams of returning to france on day. ironically, his master, dion was born in quebec.
are canadians supposed to assume that dion himself longs to return to the country of his mother's birth? if so, is the suggestion that being from abroad, specifically france, renders you incapable of being a leader?
jacques and jeanne quebecker, as you call them, will undoubtedly see the humour in bashing someone because their first language isn't english. (luckily the CPC had the wisdom to include english and french versions).
the vast numbers of new canadians living in ontario who also speak languages other than english will likely be equally impressed.
i may be stupid, but i'm smart enough to know that you can't win a majority in this country w/o ontario and quebec.
Jeff -- oops, have I offended you?
You don't like the notaleader site and why you've chosen to bring it up here, I don't know.
Personally, I don't see the point of the site because Dion's not being a leader is self-evident. Is it stupid? Meh. Is it racist? Get real.
Questioning Dion's attitude toward his own citizenship is legitimate. He wants to be the leader of Canada, Canadians have a right to question his loyalties and longings. But, as you probably know, France will force him to renounce his French citizenship in should he become PM. Perhaps you don't think we have a right to question his loyalty to Canada, but France believes it has a right to question the loyalties of high-serving public officials with dual citizenship, to France.
You say that if I can't understand Dion without a translator that it's because I'm choosing not to --the truth is, I do understand him, but I have to work at it. It shouldn't be up to me to try to figure him out, it should be up to him to communicate effectively. Now, is it unfair to poke fun at him because he's learning and progressing -- sure, it actually might do him a favour and spur him along.
Do you honestly believe that if Harper was half as bad at French, the Liberals would give him a pass? This is a bilingual country. We're not talking about some recently arrived immigrant -- this is the leader of a federal party with political aspirations -- he is fair game. This 'collective' thinking -- a slam against one man who can't speak English is a slam against all', it fatuous. This is as much a critique of his judgement as it is of his language skills. If Dion had political aspirations, learning English should have been his first step -- running for the Liberal leadership should have waited until later. That would have served himself, his party and the country much better -- but he was impatient and selfish.
You're choosing to see the Conservative campaign as a racial attack on the French or immigrants. That's your business, but don't pretend you're being non-partisan.
I checked out your blog and saw the picture of Harper being humped by Kyoto. It's 'unique genius'. It sure explains a lot about you.
I checked out your blog and saw the picture of Harper being humped by Kyoto. It's 'unique genius'. It sure explains a lot about you.
sadly, irony is lost on your type of genius...
Jeff - A dog humping the PM irony? Even when the dog is named Kyoto, it's only gross and childish, not ironic and not funny.
But lets agree to disagree, shall we?
There is one piece of truth of Suzuki's advertisement: people really are reckless with energy, and the personal costs of that recklessness. For instance, are you aware of the personal energy savings to your home by simply air-sealing leaks in your home for heating in the winter? There are advantages in the type of windows used, heating and cooling systems and air filtration, and a variety of other savings which are based on relatively simple and cheap solutions. People are either too ignorant, too lazy, or both, to implement them.
RA -- You're so right. If he hadn't been so condescending, the message would have been better received.
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"jeff davidson said... even a simple-minded person like me"
if you've got an infestation of jeffie... just pull out your spraycan of logic...it's like ddt for loony leftbugs.
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I guess I didn't take you for being an average Conservative, filled with a desire to make use of ad homineum arguments at every turn (which is essentially what the 'not a leader' business is all about as well). I had hoped for more from you.
Peter -- It's been a while. Good to see you.
What are you going on about? If you're defending jeff, he's a big boy and I'm sure can take care of himself. If I've gone ad hominem with him, at the very least I've also addressed his arguments.
And if it's simply my 'defense' of the Conservative ads (which is hardly a defense at all, considering I've stated I believed them to be unnecessary given that we are all witness to Dion) . . . priorities, temperament and other personality traits are critical to measuring a person's ability lead. How else would would one address what's lacking in a leader if one didn't go ad hominem?
The Conservatives aren't simply questioning Dion's policies or his politics -- they are challenging his ability to lead the country. Given that he wants to be Prime Minister, I would think that is a valid avenue of assessment.
BTW, I'm small 'c' conservative.
I was referring more to your Suzuki commentary than I was to Davidson's comments. It seems to me that your commentary on his commercial is just a thinly veiled tangential reason to express your dislike for the man. Surely the makers of the 'cheese' commercials didn't think that the reason there were 40 year old bums living at home with their parents was because their moms kept cooking with cheese. They didn't take the populace for fools, but rather saw a humourous way to sell their product. Suzuki is doing the same thing - surely you found something to laugh about in that commercial; surely is caused you to think about the ways you could help to conserve energy. If it did, then he was successful in getting the point across. But instead, you seem to take the commercial to be an accurate reflection of Suzuki's 'condescension' of a regular Joe. It strikes me that the only way you could do that is if you already thought ill of Suzuki and were just looking for an excuse to verbalize it. Thats exactly what an ad homineum argument it.
As for the 'not al eader' ads, I agree entirely with your assessment of them. I guess being a philosopher, I see no use whatsoever for ad homineum attacks - they serve only to deceive the audience and cause them to evaluate a person based on characteristics and arguments that have nothing to do with the task at hand. Making fun of out-of-context cockyness seems to be a good way to accomplish this. There are other ways to address the ways in which Dion hasn't been a leader - it requires more than out of context 2 second clips and Conservative interpretive commentary of those clips. This is why I prefer the recent ads of the NDP, though they have not been on air much - they provide reasons and arguments to vote for the NDP rather than fallaciously attacking another leader. That's integrity, and that's leadership - providing misleading and fallacious attack arguments in order to trick voters into voting for you isn't.
Peter -- I beg your pardon? Where do you get that? I've never mentioned Suzuki before on this blog, and despite not being fond of his recent rude and baseless attacks on the PM and his hypocritical behaviour when it comes to climate change and conservation, I grew up with Suzuki on TV and I actually have been a fan.
Where do you get off assuming that I've taken umbrage because I don't like the man? It almost feels like you're calling me racist because you don't jump over here and question me when I've challenged David Miller, Jack Layton, Paul Martin or any number of other well known people whose intentions were probably the best, when I found they were being stupid.
What makes Suzuki's ad fodder for a blog post while some other ad doesn't rate one, is obviously his celebrity, but it wouldn't have mattered to me if it was Jim Flaherty doing the ad, I would have written about it. You're the one confusing the cause with the man -- I'm not.
Jeff is a really swell guy and is ooo so cute.
He is an Ottawa Senators fan.
Ooh that's a good one. Suzuki is DUMB and you're SMART? Look precious I hate to break this to you but lefties come here for a good laugh. The ad was OBVIOUSLY designed to appeal to Harper supporters. So it has to aim pretty low.
How come you couldn't figure that one out? If you don't watch it people are going to start calling you Harper Rose...
C, a few years ago I was incensed by the idiotic Herbal Essence ads that implied orgasmic delights and fired off an email to Clairol, stating my belief that they were insulting the intelligence of women and that, because of those ads, their products were no longer in use in my home.
I got a well thought-out response from their marketing department, and a month or so later, the ads were changed.
Somehow, I doubt Suzuki would respond, but you might want to try that. I haven't seen the ad, but it sounds pretty stupid.
simon -- wow. And I thought I could change the minds of the poor losers on the left, and make you into rational, enlightened, decent human beings. Sigh . . . now that I know I've failed, how can I go on?
Or, maybe if all the truly smart people are wasting their time on some little blog, coming here to laugh because their own lives are lacking something, then maybe they aren't so smart after all -- maybe their lives are like, truly pathetic.
Love and mush, Harper Rose
You are correct in your assessment of this ad Candi-anna. And the portrayal of the stereotypical simple beer loving Canadian is proof of how out of touch Suzuki is with Canadians.
But jeff and Thurley are a bit offended by your observation....funny that.
I haven't seen the ads so no comment on the message but as I sit in an non airconditioned house on a +30C day I can't help but think that Dr Fruitfly unplugged the wrong fridge. The basement is cooler so the fridge wouldn't have to run as much.
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