Canada Day rebranded as "Moving Day" for Best Buy in Quebec

That was the flyer those of us in the RoC ("Rest-of-Canada") got for last weekend's holiday sale. But if you live in Quebec, you got one of these:

National advertisers are often told that Canadian patriotism doesn't sell as well in Quebec, especially among those who see the province's founding European-descended population as a unique and separate nation. But the big electronics retailer may have failed to understand that this kind of anti-Canada strategy — especially on the one day when most Canadians are fiercely proud of themselves — tends to enrage federalists everywhere.

You can enjoy the PR meltdown on their Facebook page. Here are some highlights (that didn't involve anti-French trolling):

Their French web site, by the way, has this:

Danielle Jang, spokeswoman for Best Buy, gave this hilarious response to CBC News:

"Like every year, we feel it is important to recognize the Moving Day holiday in Quebec because it is a significant day in this market and it's the only place in Canada where this happens. We want to celebrate and recognize this as an important day."

Developing...

Tip via Consumerist (because I was too busy celebrating... errr... "Moving Day"... to keep up with the local news.)

O Canada played on beer empties

It's Canada Day Weekend, hosers. And here's our national anthem performed on beer bottles, cans and kegs:



Have a good one, eh? (And thanks to Ryan for the tip - via HuffPo.)

F'd Ad Fridays: Kate's silly Canada Day hat

Via

And with that, I'm off to enjoy the day with friends and family.

Have a happy, safe, and responsibly intoxicated Canada Day, folks!

Happy Canada Day!

It's a day off, so here are a bunch of YouTube videos that give insights into Canadianness:

























Please feel free to add links to other videos in the comments below, eh?

Great Moments in Hoservertising

Canada Day is almost upon us, the 24-hour period in which Canadians release a year's worth of repressed patriotism in one massive, drunken EH?-gasm.

In honour of the event, I'd like to take a look back at my formative years in Canadian advertising, to the days when all Canadian men were blue-collar, hirsute and named "Gordie". Let's start with a jingle that Labatt would do well to resurrect for a classic brand:



Molson on the other hand, celebrated the great Canadian wisdom that the best-tasting beer is a free one:



Watch how many stubbies you have, though, or you could end up like this dude:



Or even worse, if you juice on the job:



Speaking of Hosers, here's a 1986 Harvey's commercial with Dave Thomas doing one of his other SCTV roles:



This blog wouldn't be complete without a Timmy's link, even though their '80s ads sucked Boston Creme:



And Canadian Tire, back when they were still a hardware and automotive store:



Another great Canadian brand, this one courtesy of our tax dollars:



Speaking of which, I ought to end on Canada's greatest achievement in the realm of PSA:







And, of course, this awesome modern parody:



Have an awesome, proud, and safe Canada Day!