Tim Hortons: Editing in the Canadian Identity

In studying for the test, I reread the article on Canadian identity and the ways in which Tim Hortons constructs and augments it through their advertisements. It made me think about a recent commercial by Tim Hortons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojq-koj__HA

I have a friend that works for the editing company that edits all of Tim Horton's commercials. He described to me the countless hours spent on trying to get the mountains that appear briefly in the commercial background to reach the perfect hue and colour balance to the rest of the commercial imagery. He often comments on how much work they editors spend on making things appear more obviously Canadian through the colour scheme and soundtracks.

After rereading the article and watching this commercial, it made me think of all the other commercials that come out during the wintertime that try to sell a product along the lines that it will fit in with our Canadian identity that we are tough enough to withstand winter, and actually enjoy it. While the above Tim Hortons commercial presented the image of Canada as one big community against a snowy backdrop to sell its product, it is not the only one I have seen lately that has combined the cold of winter into its framework.

The "tough" aspect can be seen in a recent commercial by Tide detergent that has been playing recently. It suggested that since Canadians are tough enough to brave the cold winter and have fun during it, we should embrace cold water while washing our clothes, because it is just as effective as we are tough.

What is common to both of these commercials is not just that we can brave the cold to enjoy ourselves, but that we can do it as a community of like minded people, who together represent an cohesive ideology of "Canadian tough, friendly, community". This image is something that companies can easily and safely sell their products along side. While people may question whether the Canadian identity within these commercials is a grassroots expression or a constructed one, it is clearly a useful one in conveying symbolic value for these companies.