Xmas Xcess

Commercials we hate and how you can fight back

By: Pat Daley

  It's starting to feel a lot like... consumer overload. Nothing quite takes the fun out of planning and purchasing gifts for loved ones like a barrage of television commercials reminding you that Christmas is all about spending money.
  And big money it is. Last December, Canadian retailers took in $22.5 billion, according to Statistics Canada - about $700 for every person living in Canada (which might leave many of us wondering what happened to our shares). That was up almost nine per cent from the previous year. With the economy chugging nicely along, spending could easily increase again. Competition for those dollars is intense.
  In honour of the season, Straight Goods sought out worthy recipients for its first Xmas Xcess in Advertising Awards. It's just a start - you can send your nominations in from now to December 25. (Send your entries to feedback@straightgoods.com)
  The Sapping the Spirit award goes to those outstanding purveyors of credit, VISA, for unabashedly twisting the story of the Grinch. Without the least hint of irony, VISA interrupts the Grinch's realization that "maybe the holidays don't come from a store," to remind us that - just in case he's wrong - we can buy, buy, buy on credit. It doesn't stop there. Visit the VISA web site to buy the Grinch movie, the Grinch video game or to download Grinch screensavers and wallpaper.
  A whole category of TV ads gets the Big New Retro Trend award for reviving the time-honored practice of using women to sell alcohol. There's the beer drinker who opens his door to a bevy of beautiful babes in red bikinis hopping about like a bunch of rein-dears and the vodka drinker who finds a fully-clothed trio of lookers at his door. The big prize, however, goes to the Disaronno Amaretto-sipping acrobat able to tie a knot in a cherry stem with her tongue. Maybe it's supposed to make us feel younger by pretending feminism never happened, eh?
  Of course, the holiday season would not be complete without the Dumb Man, represented again this year by Home Hardware, to which our hero is eventually dragged by the wife after trying repeatedly to stuff a 25-pound turkey into an eight-pound roasting pan.
  Finally, the Ingrate's Lump of Coal goes to the commercial in which the recipients of gifts try to come up with a thank-you while silently labelling their presents "lame" or "useless." Funny thing is, while the ad's sentiment irks me to no end, I cannot remember the product it's trying to sell.
  The good news is, we can fight back. For a refreshing break from consumer madness, try visiting www.adbusters.org - the web site of Adbusters magazine and the Adbusters Media Foundation.
  That Coca-Cola-swilling polar bear family (see Can't Bear Coca-Cola, Daley Dispatches) is back on the air. Take a look at www.cokespotlight.org to see how the Adbusters Media Foundation and Greenpeace worked together to wring a victory from Coke. Their ads showed the polar bears on an ice flow that's shrinking because of climate change, helped along by HFCs used as coolants in Coke's estimated 16 million refrigeration units around the world.
  Take action. You can read the codes and guidelines developed by Canada's advertising industry and find out how to make a complaint at the Advertising Standards Canada web site, www.canad.com. Please send copies of any complaints you post to thegoods@straightgoods.com.
  To get involved in the fight to eliminate sexism in media - and especially in advertising - go to www.mediawatch.ca.

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